


Women's Evolution

by ZVArmy



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Drama, F/M, Love, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 02:23:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 27,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18562009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZVArmy/pseuds/ZVArmy
Summary: Alexa Bliss is going to have a night to remember when she returns to action on Raw. She will be the leader of a new stable, and she will be going on a date with Seth Rollins.





	1. Chapter 1

At long last, Alexa Bliss had been cleared by WWE's doctors to return to in-ring action. A lot had changed in the six months that she had spent on the injured list after sustaining multiple concussions in a short space of time. At Wrestlemania, which had taken place two weeks earlier, Becky Lynch had won both the Raw and Smackdown Women's Championships, and there were now Women's Tag Team Championships as well.

On this particular night, the night of Alexa's return to the ring, there were going to be even more changes. The upcoming Raw episode was going to be the first of a two night special event called the Superstar Shake Up. It would see wrestlers from Raw and Smackdown moving brands, and it would also see call-ups from NXT.

Every member of all three rosters had been told to report to Raw, and most would be asked to do so again for Smackdown. Upon arrival at the arena in Montreal, the vast majority of them had no idea if they were going to be moved elsewhere, or if they would be staying where they were. Alexa was one of the people in that position. All she had been told was that she would be competing on the show, and that had been plenty good enough news for her.

The backstage areas were a hectic place before most WWE shows. On this occasion, hectic wasn't even the word. Barely organised chaos was how Alexa would have described it. She had been in the women's locker room for half an hour, and had already lost count of how many times runners had come into the room to summon somebody to see Vince McMahon, or someone else to see Triple H, or another person to see a road agent. She had the distinct impression that Vince that been up to his 're-write all of the plans at the last minute' trick again.

For that reason, it came as no particular surprise when she was on the receiving end of the latest summons. "Ms Bliss, Mr Helmsley would like to see you," a young woman wearing a WWE t-shirt said after barging into the locker room. She looked to Alexa like she was close to reaching the end of her rope with being sent here, there and everywhere.

"Okay," Alexa replied, getting up to leave right away. Please don't let whatever they're going to give me be something stupid, she thought as she left the locker room and made her way along the hallway in the direction of the offices used by Hunter Helmsley and Vince McMahon. She had the dreadful feeling that she was about to be told they were going to keep her doing A Moment of Bliss, the talk show style segments that she had been given to keep her on television while her concussions had been healing. She didn't want to be talking, she wanted to be wrestling.

Coming from the women's locker room, Alexa had to walk past Vince's office to get to Hunter's. As she neared the office belonging to the Chairman, Sasha Banks came storming out of it, slamming the door behind her. She had a face like thunder. Alexa decided to blank her, since they were a long way from friends. Although she wasn't usually a vindictive person, she couldn't help a small part of her finding amusement in the fact that Banks had apparently just been told something she didn't like.

The next door along had a laminated sheet of paper taped to it, bearing Hunter's name. Alexa knocked on the door, and was instructed to enter. Walking in, she found Hunter standing there tapping away on his phone with both thumbs, apparently typing out a message to someone. "One moment, Alexa," he said pleasantly, glancing up at her while continuing to type.

Alexa closed the door and waited to be addressed. It only took a few moments before she had Hunter's full attention.

"Okay," he said as he put his phone in his pocket. "First off, let me say it's good to have you fully cleared to return to the ring. I know from experience how frustrating it is to be out for as long as you have been."

"Thanks, Hunter," Alexa said with a smile of genuine appreciation. She knew that he actually meant what he said. It hadn't merely been a way of starting the conversation. "I'm excited to get back in the ring, and to hear what you have planned for me."

Hunter nodded. "The landscape in WWE is a lot different to the way it was when you were last active," he began. "For a start, Ronda is now on an extended time off period, not that she would be with us now anyway considering she broke her wrist at Wrestlemania. As you obviously know, Becky is currently the Raw and Smackdown Women's Champion. We also now have the women's tag team division."

"Right," Alexa said, showing none of the impatience she felt as she waited for him to get to the point.

"With all of that in mind, we don't really see a place for the previous Alexa Bliss character; the bitchy, manipulative loner who thought she was better than everyone else."

Alexa raised her eyebrows in surprise. "You're giving me a face turn?"

"No, we're giving you a stable," Hunter clarified.

"Oh!" Alexa exclaimed, her eyes widening even further. "You're giving me a stable?" she asked, emphasising her possession of it, which was how he had chosen to phrase it.

"That's right. As I already said, we think it's time for something new for Alexa Bliss, so you're going to lead the new stable. It's going to be four women, and it's going to be called Evolution. It's an idea that Vince almost gave to me way back when. If it had happened back then, I would have led a group of four men. This time, naturally, it's going to be you leading three other women."

"I like the name," Alexa said. "Tell me more about it. Like, what's our gimmick?"

"Okay, so you're called Evolution. There's going to be an experienced veteran, who is going to be Mickie James. There's going to be an up and coming protegee, Sonya Deville, and there's going to be a star talent from the current generation, which is you."

"And the fourth person?" Alexa asked, loving what she was hearing so far.

"Some muscle, with the primary role of protecting the leader and making sure her goals are achieved. That's going to be Charlotte."

For Alexa, that came as the biggest surprise so far. "Charlotte's okay with playing a supporting role to me in a stable?" she asked doubtfully.

"Yeah, she is," Hunter assured her. "Actually, she's looking forward to it. It's not like she won't be wrestling. While you're at work in the Raw Women's Championship picture, Charlotte and Sonya will be competitors in the tag team division."

Alexa wasn't going to question it. If Hunter had already spoken to Charlotte and she had told him she was fine with the arrangement, so much the better. Charlotte was someone Alexa hadn't seen since arriving at the arena, so there had been no chance for her to break the news instead of Hunter. Mickie and Sonya had been in the locker room, though, and hadn't said anything. Alexa took that to mean that they didn't yet know what their new assignment was going to be.

"As far as the imagery for Evolution, let me describe it this way," Hunter said. "You'll be filming for some promotional videos in the coming days. We'll see the four of you in smart, expensive clothes, driving top of the range sports cars, and having a good time with some very attractive men, and women in Sonya's case. Basically you're going to look like elitist pieces of crap, making you easy for people to despise. We've also licensed you a theme song from Motorhead."

"This all sounds great to me," Alexa said. She liked nothing better than wearing an expensive business suit or a glamorous dress for segments that didn't involve wrestling. Being accompanied by three other incredibly attractive women dressed in a similar way was a visual that she liked a lot. Needless to say, there would be a fair portion of WWE's audience who felt the same way.

Hunter smiled. "Sounds like I don't have to sweeten the deal, but I'm going to. Becky's going to be dropping the Raw Women's Championship to you tonight."

"Oh, man," Alexa said, blown away by the awesome news. "I really didn't think I'd get my sixth run this soon, not at all."

"Well, we weren't going to keep both titles on Becky for long, that would have been stupid," Hunter said. "And it's best for everyone if Evolution make a big impact right from the start."

"Awesome. So how is it going to play out tonight?" Alexa asked.

Hunter spent a couple of minutes laying it out for her. The plan sounded great as far as she was concerned. When he was finished, Hunter asked if she had any more questions.

"No, nothing," she assured him. "Thanks again, Hunter. I'm looking forward to this a lot."

He smiled. "Good. Do me a favour, send Mickie and Sonya to see me, will you? It's time I put them in the picture."

"Sure thing," Alexa said. Realising his request was also a dismissal, she gave a parting smile and headed for the door.

"Wow," she said to herself once she was out in the hallway. Walking back to the locker room, her head was filled with many imaginary segments that might happen one day with her new stablemates. She was so lost in her day dream that she barely registered Seth Rollins walking towards her.

"I heard you're wrestling tonight," Seth said as a greeting. "Congrats. There's nothing worse than being on that injured list."

Alexa stopped to talk to him and smiled, grateful for his kind words. "Thank you. At one time, I wasn't sure if this night would ever come. Now it's here, and I just got some great news from Hunter, too. I'm going to be the leader of a new stable."

"That's great," Seth said. Alexa noticed that he looked a little shifty, or maybe uncertain of himself. That was out of character for him, in her experience. She soon discovered why. "This is something I've wanted to ask for a while, but it's never felt like the right moment. Or maybe I haven't had the courage," he admitted. "But I'm going to go for it. I was wondering if maybe I could take you to dinner one night? Tonight, I mean. Unless you're busy tonight, then it could be another night."

Alexa beamed, surprised and flattered to be asked on a date, and amused by the mess he had made of asking her. She didn't know Seth all that well, but he had always seemed like a nice enough guy when she had spoken to him. He was good looking too, there could be no doubt about that. The offer of a date was out of left field, but she was minded to accept. Why not, she decided. This was apparently a night of new beginnings, and she hadn't been on a date for some time.

"I made a mess of that, didn't I?" Seth asked while he waited for her answer.

"You did," Alexa said with a chuckle. "Even so, I'm going to say yes. I'll go to dinner with you, and I'm free tonight."

"Okay, great," Seth said, his usual confidence quickly returning now that things had gone his way. "I'll book us a table somewhere for after the show."

"Looking forward to it," Alexa said, giving him one of her sweetest smiles.

"Me too," Seth said with a smile of his own. "I'd better go. I got the dreaded order to see Vince. In before he sends me to Smackdown with the red Universal title."

Alexa laughed at the silly comment. "I seriously doubt that. I'll see you later. I'll get your number from one of the girls and text you when I'm ready to leave."

"Perfect. See you then."

They parted ways, and Alexa continued towards the women's locker room. "This is quite a night," she said to herself. "A new stable, a championship victory, and a date. It's good to be back."


	2. Chapter 2

Throughout the Raw episode, in addition to the excitement over the Superstar Shake Up, the commentary team had done a lot of work to hype up the main event. It would see Becky Lynch defend one of her two newly-won championships against Alexa Bliss, who had only competed once since October.

When the time finally came for the main event, it was something of a surprise for the audience to see Alexa enter the arena with Mickie James by her side. That friendship had seemingly ended some time ago, yet here they were together again.

"Finally, for the first time since October, we're going to see Alexa Bliss wrestle on Monday Night Raw," Corey Graves enthused on commentary. "And not only that, Ms Bliss has Mickie James accompanying her once more."

As Alexa and Mickie headed for the ring, Michael Cole recapped events from earlier in the show. "Opening the show tonight, Becky Lynch said she was looking for new challengers. She wanted to put her Raw Women's Championship on the line, and Alexa Bliss was surprisingly the one to accept the open challenge."

"Right, but nobody mentioned Mickie James being involved," Renee Young complained.

"I'm sure Mickie's just out here to watch her friend in her comeback match," Graves said dismissively.

Alexa finished her entrance routine and stepped into the ring, standing beside Mickie to await the arrival of the champion.

When Becky's music hit, she received a loud ovation from the fans. It made Alexa look at Mickie and roll her eyes in despair, lost as to why Lynch had so much fan support. The gesture was picked up on by Renee.

"Alexa can roll her eyes all she wants. Here comes The Man, who is fresh off of defeating Ronda Rousey in the main event of Wrestlemania, taking home both the Raw and Smackdown Women's Championships."

Becky stood at the top of the entrance ramp, holding the Raw title up in the air. The Smackdown one was being worn around her waist.

"The only problem with having all of the gold is that everyone is targeting you," Cole commented. "Can Becky survive her first test and emerge as Becky Two Belts, as she likes to call herself?"

Becky entered the ring, and after she gave her usual pose on the ropes, Greg Hamilton handled the ring announcements.

On one side of the ring, Lynch projected arrogance, while Alexa, as was often the case, appeared to think she was smarter than her opponent, intending that to be her key to victory.

As the match got underway, there was an air of uncertainty in the arena. The majority of the support was behind Becky, but those supporting had to wonder if they would see her end the night with one title or two.

* * *

Even after so long out of the ring, Alexa hadn't lost a step. That had been well and truly proven by the way she had used cunning and ring awareness to dominate the match.

Unfortunately for Alexa, dominating the match did not necessarily mean winning it. Nothing she had done had been enough for a three count, and after Becky reversed an attempted DDT into a suplex, Alexa looked to be the one in trouble.

When Alexa got to her feet, Becky was ready and waiting for her. She jumped into the air, wrapped her legs around Alexa's neck and delivered a hurricanrana.

In one fluid motion, Becky transitioned into a sitting position on her opponent's back and locked in the Disarm-Her.

"There is it!" Cole yelled. "The Disarm-Her is in, and it's in good!"

With Alexa screaming and writhing in pain, it seemed that the end of the match might be at hand. Mickie jumped up onto the apron, threatening to get into the ring.

The referee saw Mickie immediately and hurried over there, shouting at her to get down.

"What's Mickie James doing?" Renee objected. "Get her down off there!"

Frustratingly for Becky and the crowd, Alexa started tapping out, but there was no referee to see it and make the call; he was struggling to keep Mickie out of the ring.

"Alexa Bliss is tapping!" Cole called. "This match should be over!"

"It pays to have friends, Cole," Graves countered. "Not that you would know."

Livid, Becky got up to go and deal with Mickie herself. As she did so, someone else slid into the ring on the opposite side. Becky turned in that direction instead, only to find Sonya Deville jumping towards her. A brutal kick to the side of the head almost turned the champion's lights out.

"What the... What the heck was that?" Renee yelled as the crowd booed furiously.

"That's Sonya Deville, from Smackdown Live!" Cole cried. "Deville just kicked Becky Lynch's head off."

Sonya had quickly bailed from the ring as soon as she had committed the assault. Mickie got down off the apron, leaving the referee to turn around and find Alexa on her feet, with Becky struggling to get up.

Poised and ready to strike, Alexa pounced on Becky when she regained her feet, hitting her DDT finishing move.

"DDT!" Graves called. "Bliss into the cover!"

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

Even though Alexa was a heel, and had just cheated her way to a championship victory, the crowd still popped for her win.

"Alexa Bliss is the Raw Women's Champion!" Cole announced with more than a hint of disgust in his voice. "Thanks to a whole lot of help from Mickie James and Sonya Deville, Alexa Bliss is a four time Raw Women's Champion."

"What an embarrassing way to win a title," Renee said. "Becky had the match won, but Mickie James distracted the referee."

Retreating up the ramp, Sonya looked pleased with her decisive part in the end of the match.

Meanwhile, Mickie was in the ring, helping Alexa up. She snatched the Raw Women's Championship from the referee and had the honour of presenting it to the new champion herself.

"There you see the new champion, but there are more questions than answers here," Cole said. "Why is Mickie James once again allied with Alexa Bliss? Why did Sonya Deville interfere and attack Becky Lynch? Is Deville now on Monday Night Raw?"

"Right now, none of that matters," Graves said as Alexa stood facing the hard camera and gave her familiar pose with the title belt, adding a wink and a smug smile. "The only thing that's important is that Alexa Bliss is the new Raw Women's Champion."

Shortly, the lights above the ring were turned off, signalling the end of the segment. Leaving the ring with Mickie, Alexa felt so many emotions that she couldn't show while in character. At one point in the not too distant past she had wondered if she would ever wrestle again. Even when those fears had been allayed by WWE's medical staff, she had been reduced to the largely pointless role of host at Wrestlemania. Now, suddenly, she was back at the top of the mountain as a six time champion.

"Congrats, Lexi. I'm so glad you're back," Mickie said quietly on their way up the ramp. Since Raw was now on a commercial break, the words were private between them.

The kindness meant a lot to Alexa, too. They had spent a lot of time working together since Mickie had returned to WWE, and a strong friendship had formed between them. For Alexa, one of the best parts about the new Evolution stable was the fact that Mickie was going to have a key role in it. She considered her friend to have been treated poorly by WWE, but hoped that this was a turnaround in that regard.

"Thanks, Mickie," Alexa said warmly. "You were there for me through everything I've been through these past six months. I appreciate you, and I won't forget it."

They walked through the curtain to the back, where Sonya was waiting for them with a smile on her face. "Congratulations, Alexa," she said, offering a friendly hug, which was accepted.

Alexa didn't know Sonya well, but from the encounters they'd had, she had found her to be pleasant, respectful and keen to learn. They were all admirable and important qualities in someone who was a rookie in relative terms. Evolution was a big break for Sonya, and Alexa looked forward to doing her part in helping her develop.

Alexa was congratulated on her win by Hunter Helmsley and Vince McMahon. She thanked them both for their kind words, then it was time to leave Gorilla to make way for the preparations for the next match.

"What do you say to drinks tonight after the show? We've got the new team to celebrate, and the title win," Mickie said to them both after they had left, heading for the locker room.

"Thank you, but I can't. I have a date tonight," Alexa revealed.

"Oh! Tell us more!" Mickie demanded excitedly.

Alexa could tell that Sonya wanted to enquire also, but wasn't comfortable enough to do so with someone she didn't have much of a friendship with yet.

"I need to get Seth's number from you, if you have it," Alexa said to Mickie, letting that serve as a way to break the news.

"I think I can hook you up," Mickie said knowingly.

"Thanks," Alexa said, happy to leave it at that. The gossiping could happen after the date.

The trio walked on in silence for a moment before Sonya spoke up, sounding like she wanted to try her hand at striking up a conversation with her new teammates. "I can't believe Sasha got sent home," she ventured.

"I'll avoid saying anything on that one," Alexa said.

"Lexi and Sasha don't get along," Mickie explained to Sonya. "Sasha has taken shots at her several times, physically and verbally. And now she's been sent home for freaking out about Bayley moving to Smackdown tomorrow night. So, yeah, don't act like that is basically what I'm saying."

"Noted," Sonya said seriously.

Approaching the locker room, they found Charlotte Flair, who would at some point become the fourth Evolution member, waiting outside for them with her phone in hand.

"Congrats, Lexi," Charlotte said, beaming.

"Thanks, Char. It means a lot," Alexa said, returning the smile. She had always found Charlotte to be kind-hearted and supportive of others – a truly lovely person to be around. Although Alexa considered it a surprise that Charlotte had been up for taking on something of supporting role to her in Evolution, she wasn't going to question it. Charlotte's addition to the team meant that Evolution had the potential to be one of, if not the most dominant faction in the history of women's wrestling.

Charlotte held up her phone. "I was thinking about getting a picture of you guys, but it looks like I've been beaten to it."

One of WWE's official photographers was approaching the group. She smiled, happy to find the people she needed. "Can I get Alexa and Mickie, please?"

Sonya stepped aside, standing next to Charlotte. Her reasoning for attacking Becky hadn't been explained yet on screen, so it made sense not to have her in the picture.

Alexa and Mickie struck a few poses, with the Raw Women's Championship having pride of place. By the time the photographer was done, Becky Lynch had arrived. So as not to interfere with the shots, she hadn't been able to get by to the locker room.

"Thanks," the photographer said when she had what she needed.

Becky stepped forward and exchanged a congratulatory hug with Alexa. "Good job. It'll be interesting to see what happens tomorrow night. I know we're all going to be there."

"Yeah, good match," Alexa said, smiling in appreciation of the professionalism that was always to be found from Becky. "I don't know what's coming next, but I can't wait to find out."


	3. Chapter 3

After Raw, Alexa had planned to make the drive to the city where Smackdown was going to take place the next night. That idea had gone out of the window when she had accepted the offer of a date from Seth Rollins. With no hotel room to go and change in, she was left with the default option of going with him straight from Raw. Luckily, she had brought a dark green dress with her to the show, and was able to wear that for the date.

As agreed, Alexa had met Seth in the arena, and he had driven them to the restaurant that he had selected.

Getting out of Seth's car, Alexa's first impression was that the place seemed a bit too upper class for her liking. It seemed like the kind of stuffy place where minding your manners was more important than having a good time, and that wasn't Alexa's scene at all. She was from an ordinary working class family, and hadn't allowed finding fame with WWE to change her at all.

"You're going to love this place," Seth said confidently, offering for her to take his arm. Alexa accepted, although again, it wasn't something she would have chosen to do. He had dressed smartly in a black shirt and pants, which was something she did approve of. Black was one of her favourite colours, and it suited Seth.

"I know Christophe, the manager," Seth went on as they walked across the parking lot towards the entrance. "I eat here most of the time when we're in the area, otherwise I would have struggled to get a table. The food is incredible, though."

Alexa pictured a cut of meat on her plate about the size of quarter, with Seth paying a small fortune for her privilege of eating it. She was certain she had never eaten anywhere that was run by someone called Christophe before. She appreciated Seth trying to treat her to what he considered to be the best dining experience, even if he had misjudged what she would enjoy. When all was said and done, they didn't know much about each other, so how could he have known what her tastes were?

Entering the restaurant, they were greeted by the aforementioned Christophe, who spoke in exactly the kind of lofty French accent Alexa had expected. She smiled graciously when Seth introduced her, then looked around the room. It wasn't quite as bad, from her point of view, as she had expected. People were dressed in a similar manner to her, and conversation seemed to be flowing freely between the diners. The food seemed a bit more sensible than she had envisioned, also.

Shown to a table for two, they sat down. "This is nice," Alexa said positively, feeling better about things.

"I'm glad you like it," Seth replied with a smile. "I didn't know what kind of restaurant you'd like, so since this is my go to place I decided to err on this side of things. Otherwise it might have been an IHOP."

Seth had intended it as a joke, but Alexa had eaten at an IHOP with her friend Mike Rome only the night before. "I'm looking forward to seeing what they have," she said diplomatically, picking up her menu. It was a relief to find it written in English, since she had no French.

"Do you drink?" Seth asked while he browsed his menu, meaning alcohol. It was a fair question, since some wrestlers didn't partake.

"I don't like beer, but I drink wine," she replied.

"Perfect," Seth said. "They have the perfect wine to suit anything you order here."

There wasn't much on the menu that particularly appealed to Alexa. After a couple of minutes of deliberation, she made a choice. "I think I'll get the Lemon Sole."

Seth looked up and smiled. "I was thinking the same thing."

The service was almost immediate when they put their menus down, and Seth ordered for them, along with a White Bordeaux wine that was recommended by their server.

As wrestling was the only thing they had in common for sure, it was no surprise that it was the first topic of conversation. Seth had already congratulated Alexa on her title win when they had met up at the arena, so there was no need to start with that.

"There was a lot of talk about this new stable of yours tonight, most of it positive," he said.

Alexa chuckled. "Most of it?"

"Well, Sasha walked out over it, or got sent home, depending on which version of events you buy into."

That came as a surprise to Alexa. "That's not how I heard it. I heard she flipped because they broke her team up and they're moving Bayley to Smackdown tomorrow."

"Oh," Seth said, momentarily confused. "I heard she was jealous that Evolution is being built around you, not her."

If she was honest, Alexa wouldn't have found that surprising. Sasha had felt jealousy towards her for a long time, as petty as that was. "Maybe you're right, who knows?" she replied. "Either way, I got the team and the title, so I'm not complaining."

Seth smiled in agreement. A certain amount of selfishness was necessary at times for anyone who wanted to get to the top of the mountain in WWE.

The server returned with the wine and poured some for Alexa to taste. She felt awkward. Although she liked a glass of wine, she was no connoisseur. She didn't know if it was up to standard or not. It tasted nice enough to her, so she nodded her approval.

The server poured glasses for both of them, then left them to it.

"I think this Evolution idea is excellent," Seth said. "I'm a big supporter of women's wrestling, and I'm delighted to see them doing things like this to keep building it up further and further. A faction of four powerful women like you guys is going to be great."

"Thanks, I think so too," Alexa said, warming to the date now. It had been some time since her last one, so she wondered if she had been overly hard to please so far. "It's an interesting concept, too, the whole past, present and future thing."

Seth grinned mischievously over his wine glass. "I wonder how Mickie would react to you referring to her as the past?"

Alexa laughed. "Shut up! That's not what I meant!"

Seth laughed too, and there was the first sense of some chemistry between them.

"We're even going to get a Motorhead theme song, according to Hunter," Alexa revealed.

"That's cool. I can't think of one that would fit off the top of my head though," he said with eyes narrowed in thought.

"He did say Evolution was an idea that was originally going to be given to him by Vince years ago, so maybe it's an original piece that never got used? I don't know. Anyway, all we've done is talk about me. You're the Universal Champion! We should talk about that."

"It's certainly taken a long time," Seth said, smiling at her words. "2015 was the last time I had a top title. I had to give it up with that knee injury I got."

"That was that long ago?" Alexa cried, barely able to believe it.

"Yeah. In some ways the best year of my life. In other ways, the worst. But hey, that's in the past. Right now, as you said, I'm the Universal Champion. I'm having a blast, and I found out a couple of days ago that I'm going to be going with Vince, Triple H and Kofi to open the new WWE Centre in a few weeks."

Alexa pictured the new arena that WWE had spent the best part of two years building in Orlando. Located near to Disneyland, the new arena would be able to seat 30,000 fans. It was intended to host all manner of events, including music concerts. Several times a year, it would also host Raw and Smackdown episodes, with the intention being to make them unofficial special episodes.

In addition to the arena, there was going to be a WWE museum and an enormous WWE superstore in the complex, where any conceivable piece of WWE merchandise past or present was going to be sold. Unbeknown to fans, WWE also planned to have superstars appear at the superstore unannounced from time to time.

Lastly, one of the restaurants in the complex would be similar to the WWF New York, in that customers could make a night of it there whenever a WWE show was on, watching it on enormous screens in either the restaurant or the bar. Those things in addition to the proximity to Disneyland would hopefully see a lot of people visiting.

All in all, many of the wrestlers were excited about the new WWE Centre. Alexa felt a little irked that it was only the male champions who were going to the opening ceremony, but that wasn't Seth's fault.

"That'll be a lot of fun. I hope you have an awesome time," she said. "I'm looking forward to going down there and seeing it in person myself."

"I'm sure it'll happen sooner rather than later," Seth assured her.

The food arrived at the table, and Alexa had to admit that it looked delicious. She couldn't wait to dig into it.

The chat continued while they ate, both commenting on the excellent quality of the food.

About ten minutes later, Alexa noticed a young man approaching their table. She had seen that tentative walk enough times to recognise a fan who was unsure as to whether they should approach a wrestler in public.

"Uh, hi," the fan ventured, mainly interested in Seth. "I hate to come over while you're eating, but Seth, I'm a big..."

"Not now, we're on personal time and we're eating," Seth said irritably.

The fan blushed and looked like he wanted the floor to open up and swallow him. Slowly chewing her food, Alexa watched on.

"I'm sorry," the fan said, definitely meaning it. "Maybe when you're done..."

"Get lost, kid," Seth said, looking around for a member of staff to have the fan removed. It wasn't necessary, for the fan left of his own accord, looking upset by the encounter.

Alexa carried on eating, looking at her food rather than at Seth for a while so as to hide the look on her face. The unpleasant encounter had ruined the date for her, and she blamed Seth entirely. He had been overly forceful and rude, in her opinion, and she didn't like that at all. Unlike her on-screen character, the real Alexa was incredibly appreciative of her fans, and made time for them whenever she could. Seth's attitude could not have been more different to her own, and it had turned her right off.

For the sake of politeness, Alexa kept up conversation over the main course. She could tell by the end of it that Seth had picked up on her vibes.

"I botched this date, huh?" he asked, showing creditable good humour and humility about it.

"Yeah, you kind of did," Alexa said.

"Restaurant?" Seth guessed.

"Fan," she clarified.

"Wait, really?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

Alexa finished off what was going to be her last glass of wine for the night. "You were very rude to that guy. Should he have come over while we were eating? No. But you could have been polite and told him to come back over when we were done. You talked to him like something you'd stepped in, and it'll probably stay in his mind for years. I believe in treating people, all people, better than that."

Seth listened to what she said with no particular expression on his face. "I'm sorry I offended you," he said eventually.

"Thank you for the apology and the lovely food and wine. I think, uh, maybe we should go."

Seth admitted defeat with good grace, signalling for the check.


	4. Chapter 4

Appearing on Smackdown Live was likely to be a rare occurrence for Evolution, since all four members were assigned to Raw. The reason for their presence being demanded for this episode, the night after Alexa had won the Raw Women's Championship thanks to a lot of help from Mickie and Sonya, was fairly obvious to Alexa. Charlotte's transfer to Raw hadn't been announced to the audience yet, and the reasoning behind Mickie and Sonya helping Alexa on Raw was also a mystery to them.

Sitting in the locker room, Alexa had spent a few minutes reading the formats for the upcoming show. She had discovered that both of the outstanding issues were going to be addressed, which pleased her. The last thing she wanted was for the great idea that was Evolution to be ruined by lacklustre creative. That kind of thing was always possible in WWE, to the frustration of pretty much the entire roster.

"Time for me to formally join the team," Charlotte said, sitting down next to Alexa and looking at the formats in her hand.

"Do you want to read?" Alexa asked, offering her the stapled sheets of paper.

"Read it earlier," Charlotte said easily. "I didn't get much of a chance to talk to you last night with how busy things were. I want to say I'm really looking forward to working with you, all three of you. Evolution has such potential, I don't there's ever been anything like it in WWE before."

Appreciating Charlotte's enthusiasm, Alexa smiled. "I was saying the same thing to someone last night. If I can be frank with you, and please don't take this the wrong way, I was surprised to learn you had gone for this idea, with the role you've been given."

Charlotte took the comment in her stride, seeming like she had been expecting it. "I totally understand where you're coming from. I mean, would I have liked to have been the leader of Evolution? Of course I would. But that wasn't what was offered to me. I was offered the role of being the muscle of the group, defending you and competing with Sonya in the tag team division. There are several reason I accepted. Firstly, as we just agreed, Evolution has enormous potential."

Nodding her agreement with that, Alexa looked forward to hearing the other reasons.

"Second, I want the tag team division us women have waited so long for to mean something. It's not going to mean something if people reject the idea of competing in it when it's given to them. And lastly, I like Sonya a lot. She's been given the role as hot prospect in Evolution, and to my mind it's perfect casting. That girl is the real deal, if she lives up to her potential. It's now up to me, and you, and Mickie to make sure that happens."

Alexa had always gotten along well with Charlotte, although they hadn't spent much time on the same brand. Now she had a newfound respect for her new teammate, recognising that Charlotte was talking like a real locker room leader. It was admirable, and Charlotte was right in everything she had said. Being a part of Evolution, particularly the leader of it, came with a lot of responsibility. Charlotte had been quicker to pick up on that than Alexa had herself.

"You're totally right," Alexa said. "We have all of the right components to succeed, and to ensure all four of us operate at the top of our game. You won't find any lack of commitment from me. It's a privilege to lead this group, and I'm going to do the best I can."

"I didn't doubt it," Charlotte said with an honest smile. "I'm glad we had this talk. I'm going to go and grab a coffee. Can I get you anything?"

"No, thank you."

Barely had Alexa turned her attention back to reading the formats after Charlotte left when someone else sat down beside her. This time it was Mickie. "That looked positive," she offered, referring to the conversation with Charlotte.

Setting the formats aside, Alexa nodded. "It was. I understand Charlotte's motives better now, and I agree with them. We were talking about how it's important for us three to help Sonya reach her potential. No doubt she's very talented."

"Yes, plus hardworking and willing to learn. She has all of the right qualities that make a star. But honestly that's not why I came over here. I want my gossip, girl! You've said nothing about the date with Seth!" The last couple of sentences had been delivered barely above a whisper so that the entire locker room didn't learn about Alexa's private life.

Alexa grimaced. "It didn't go well to be honest. Seth chose the restaurant, and it was a bit too stuffy for me. He also made a joke about taking me to an IHOP, not realising that I'd have rather been there than where we actually were."

"Yikes. Awkward," Mickie said. "Putting your foot in your mouth is never a good way to start a date."

"Right," Alexa said. "It did pick up from there, though. The food was really nice, and the wine was something else. We were chatting, and I started to feel like we were connecting a bit, but then he blew it."

"How? What happened?" Mickie asked, intrigued.

"A fan came over to our table. Yeah, it wasn't the right time to do it while we were eating, but he was apologetic about it. He wanted to meet Seth. If I had been in Seth's position I would have probably said come back over when we're done with the food and we'll get a picture, something like that. Seth decided not to do that. He was really rude to the guy, and I could tell it upset him. You know I'm not that kind of person at all, Mickie. I didn't like it at all."

"No, I can see why that ruined that date for you," Mickie said. "I agree, too. There's no need to treat people like that. It costs nothing to be nice to people."

"Seth took it okay, but yeah, the date was a bust."

Mickie offered a consolatory smile. "Sorry, Lexi."

"Forget it," Alexa said with a shrug. "It's not like I've never had a bad date before. Let's look forward to the show. It's going to be a lot of fun."

* * *

After the first match of the Smackdown episode, Kayla Braxton conducted a backstage interview with Shane McMahon. As Shane walked away after saying his piece, Kayla noticed Alexa Bliss, Mickie James and Sonya Deville walking by. All three were impeccably dressed, Alexa and Sonya in black suits and Mickie in a dark grey dress. Alexa had the Raw Women's Championship over her shoulder.

"Ladies! Excuse me!" Kayla called out, hurrying over to them.

Alexa looked at her impatiently, but dignified the request by stopping walking.

"Alexa, you guys are all on the Raw roster. In fact, last night you won the Raw Women's Championship. What are you doing here on Smackdown Live?"

Glaring at the interviewer, Alexa snatched the microphone from her. "We're here on Smackdown because we want to be, and no one can stop us," she snarled. "Let me properly introduce the three women standing in front on you, Kayla. We are Evolution. I am Alexa Bliss, a six time Women's Champion and a former Money in the Bank winner. I am the greatest female wrestler of the current generation."

She looked at Mickie. "This is Mickie James. She is also a six time champion, so make no mistake about it, Mickie is a legend in the wrestling business. She brings unparalleled experience and wisdom to the group that I have put together."

Alexa turn to her other side, looking up at Sonya, who stood there with a distinctly menacing demeanour about her. "And this is Sonya Deville. Sonya is the hottest prospect in WWE. So far, she has only begun to unearth her potential, as everyone will all soon discover."

Alexa handed the microphone to Mickie, who sneered at Kayla. "Braxton, you want to know why Evolution are here on Smackdown? Let me put it this way: We're still in the middle of the Superstar Shake Up, and there is one more person who is moving to Raw. That person also happens to be the fourth member of Evolution."

The microphone was handed to Sonya, who menaced Kayla while addressing her. "Last night, Alexa took the Raw Women's Championship from Becky Lynch. Once Evolution is fully assembled, Billie Kay and Peyton Royce better have eyes in the back of their heads, because we're coming for their tag titles as well."

Sonya slammed the microphone into Kayla's chest once she was done with it, and Alexa gestured with her head for her team members to walk with her. "Let's go, ladies."

Looking daunted by what happened, Kayla watched them leave before the show was handed back to the guys at the commentary table.

* * *

The main event of the night saw Becky Lynch taking on Bayley, a new acquisition for the blue brand. In an evenly-fought contest, there had been signs of a new aggressiveness from Bayley, a fact that was likely to be welcomed by a lot of the fan base.

Nonetheless, seething after the way she had been screwed out of her Raw Women's Championship by Alexa Bliss and the rest of Evolution the night before, Becky had held nothing back in taking her frustrations out on the huggable one.

The end of the match appeared to be at hand when Becky was able to lock in the Disarm-Her. Oddly, the fans were booing. The reason for that soon became clear when Charlotte Flair slid into the ring.

"There's Charlotte Flair. What's she doing out here?" Tom Phillips demanded to know on commentary.

Diving forward, Charlotte smashed a forearm into the back of Becky's head, causing the referee to immediately throw out the match.

"That's going to be a disqualification," Byron Saxton said. "What a shame to have such a good match end that way. And for what reason?"

Charlotte could not have cared less about the bell sounding or the referee shouting at her to get out of the ring. Her attention was squarely on Becky, who had managed to get back to her knees after the forearm. She had put herself in the perfect position for Natural Selection, which Charlotte was happy to deliver.

"Charlotte Flair lays out The Man," Corey Graves said, sounding quite pleased about it. "Charlotte didn't lose at Wrestlemania, so I'm not surprised she's angry at seeing Becky parading around with her Smackdown Women's Championship."

"It's called a triple threat match, Graves, that's how they work," Phillips fired back.

"That doesn't change the fact that Becky didn't pin or submit Charlotte."

Even with Becky now taken out, Charlotte wasn't done. Wanting to send a message by inflicting as much pain as she possibly could, she had now locked in the Figure Four leg log, and was in the process of bridging into the Figure Eight.

"Come on, this is ridiculous," Saxton said. "We need someone out here to sort this out."

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, the new Evolution theme song began to play. No one could have recognised it, but they were aware of who was coming out thanks to the name of the group and their logo appearing on the big screen above the entrance.

"Oh, it looks like you're about to get someone out here alright," Graves said gleefully. "Here comes Alexa Bliss, leading out Evolution."

The trio walked out onto the stage, with Alexa in the middle. They all looked pleased with what they were seeing taking place in the ring. They made their way down the ramp, in no particular hurry. The whole time, Becky was writhing around and screaming in pain, locked inescapably into Charlotte's Figure Eight.

After Charlotte had ruined the end of the match, Bayley had ended up rolling out of the ring on the entrance side. As Evolution approached her, Alexa made a dismissive hand gesture towards her, instructing Sonya to take out the trash.

Sonya dragged Bayley up off the floor and ran her shoulder first into the ring steps. With a loud crash, the top half of the steps went flying and Bayley lay face down on the floor, unconscious.

Evolution's music faded out, with all attention now turning to the ring. Charlotte had finally broken the Figure Eight, but the damage had been done. Becky was lying on the mat, clutching her injured leg.

Leading her team into the ring, Alexa started directing traffic.

"Charlotte Flair is taking instructions from Alexa Bliss," Phillips cried. "What the heck is going on here?"

"Didn't you listen to what we were told earlier?" Graves snapped at him. "Mickie James said there was a fourth Evolution member, who has apparently agreed to go over to Raw. It looks like Mickie was talking about Charlotte."

At Alexa's instruction, Charlotte had picked Becky up. Mickie stepped out of her heels and blasted the Irishwoman with a Mick Kick.

The honour of putting the finishing touch to a demolition of Becky Lynch went Alexa, for the second time in as many nights. She had handed her title belt to Sonya, taken off her suit jacket and stepped out of her shoes.

When Charlotte ragged Becky up off the mat one more, Alexa was ready and waiting. It was time for her to debut her new finishing move. Jumping up into the air, she wrapped her legs around Becky's neck and delivered a headscissors DDT, spiking Becky's head into the mat. It was a much more impressive finisher than her previous one.

Graves said, "Alexa told me earlier today that move is called Evolution of Bliss."

With Becky finished off, Evolution's music began to play again. Alexa put her shoes back on, took her belt back from Sonya and led her group from the ring, with Deville carrying her jacket for her.

Walking up the ramp, flanked by three fantastic wrestlers and in her experience so far, great people, Alexa felt like this was one of her happiest moments in wrestling. She felt sure that Evolution were at the start of an amazing journey, and she couldn't wait to see where it took them.


	5. Chapter 5

After beating down Becky Lynch two shows in a row and taking the Raw Women's Championship from her, Alexa had not been surprised when she had read the formats for Raw and found out that things were going to take a turn in the opposite direction.

For their first appearance on this particular episode, Evolution had been put into a long black limousine and driven around the block outside the arena, all so that they could be filmed 'arriving' after the first match of the night.

The limo glided into the parking garage, with the fans having no idea who was inside. After it xame to a stop, the driver got out and opened the passenger door. A cameraman was ready to get a shot of whatever pair of feet were about to get out. A pair of gleaming black high heels revealed that it was a woman, before the shot panned upwards to reveal Alexa Bliss.

As she arranged her title belt over her shoulder, Alexa imagined the boos that would hopefully be filling the arena. She affected not to care in the least that Evolution had arrived late.

Next to emerge from the limo was Mickie James. "I'm told our locker room is ready for us," she said.

"Good," Alexa said. "It's time Evolution were treated with the proper respect around here."

Sonya Deville stepped out of the limo, followed by Charlotte Flair, her presence confirming that she had officially joined the team.

All four women were wearing expensive dresses, their hair and makeup done to perfection. It truly was a powerful and beautiful sight to behold.

"Bring our cases inside, and be quick about it," Alexa ordered the driver.

With that, Evolution walked into the nearby entrance, heading backstage. A cameraman was in position to film them when they walked in, making the short journey to their locker room.

"I think it's a shame we all have the night off," Sonya said. "I'm in the mood to fight someone."

"Don't worry, you and Charlotte will be fighting together soon enough," Alexa assured her, a clear reference to taking on the tag team division.

The group reached a locker room door with the Evolution name and logo on a plaque beside it.

"Here we are," Charlotte said. "They'd better have supplied the wine and food we asked for."

Alexa opened the door and led her team inside. A cameraman was in there, revealing that their room had been outfitted with two leather couches, a wooden coffee table and a TV on the wall. A large salad platter and a bottle of wine in an ice bucket sat on the table. "Good," she opined, finding it to her satisfaction.

Mickie was the last person to enter the room. She closed the door, oblivious to the fact that Becky Lynch had been hiding behind it.

With all of her foes in the room, Becky launched into an attack, smashing a forearm into the back of Mickie's head and knocking her down.

Sonya spun around, only to find Becky coming through the air at her like a missile. She took a spear which sent her flying off her feet and through the coffee table.

Reacting to the attack, Charlotte pounced on Becky before she could get up from taking out Sonya. The two women frantically threw punches at each other, trying to get the upper hand. Alexa settled the issue by kicking Becky in the side of the head, knocking her off Charlotte.

Undeterred, Becky was up as quickly as Charlotte. After kicking Alexa in the stomach, she grabbed Charlotte and smashed her face first into the TV, breaking the screen with the impact.

Holding her title belt and clutching at her stomach in pain, Alexa fled from the room while Becky was busy taking care of Charlotte.

Out in the arena, Triple H was in the ring, cutting a promo about a match Seth Rollins was going to have later in the night. He was interrupted when Evolution's music started to play. Boos came from the fans.

Looking surprised by the interruption, Triple H stopped talking and turned to face the stage. For almost a minute, the music continued to play without any sign of anyone actually coming out into the arena.

Finally, Alexa stumbled out onto the stage, breathless and holding her stomach. She glanced back towards the curtain, worried that Becky might not be far behind her. More boos greeted the Raw Women's Champion.

Looking dishevelled and angry, Alexa made her way down the entrance ramp. She unceremoniously rolled into the ring, then walked across to get a microphone, glaring at Triple H as she passed by him. As soon as she had the microphone in hand, she launched into the boss.

"What kind of show are you running here?" she demanded aggressively. "Did you see what just happened back there? Becky Lynch attacked us and trashed our office!"

Before Hunter could respond, Becky's music started playing. The fans cheered loudly, encouraging her to come out and deal with Alexa in the same manner she had dispatched the rest of Evolution.

Becky briskly walked down the ramp, carrying her Smackdown Women's Championship. She walked around the ring and fetched herself a microphone before getting. Even though she walked around the ring, Alexa gave her a wide berth, trying to position Hunter between them as much as possible without actively hiding behind him.

Like Alexa before her, Becky wasted no time in spitting out what she had to say when she entered the ring. "Triple H, I'm glad you're out here as well as that cowardly little witch. Last week, her and her crew of dopes stole the Raw Women's Championship from me, and they left me laying in the ring last Tuesday on Smackdown as well. I want my rematch, I want it tonight, or I'm going to put your champion in hospital."

"This is what I mean!" Alexa yelled, getting in before Triple H could speak. "Becky walks around here acting like she owns the place, assaulting people, trashing people's locker rooms. What are you going to do about it?" she raged, poking the boss in the chest as she screamed at him.

Hunter pointedly looked down at her finger making contact with his chest, and the crowd made an 'oooh' sound at the way Alexa had very clearly just stepped over a line.

Hunter looked at Becky, then at Alexa before delivering his simple reply. "I think you two should work your problems out between yourselves." With that he walked towards the corner of the ring, leaving.

A cheer filled the arena as the fans realised what his words actually meant: He was going to do nothing to punish Becky, or to stop her from attacking Alexa.

"Wait! Hey! I'm not finished talking with you!" Alexa shouted, walking after Hunter. But it was no use. He stepped through the ropes and walked down the steps, totally ignoring her.

Only now did it dawn on Alexa what situation she was in. Becky had stepped up behind her, an arrogant smile on her face. The fans were cheering, delighted with the prospect of Bliss getting an ass kicking.

Alexa closed her eyes for a moment before slowly turning around, raising her hands in a placatory manner. Her plan was apparently to beg off from the comeuppance that was rapidly heading her way.

The crowd began a 'Kick her ass!' chant in support of Becky, whose smile broadened.

"I have a feeling Alexa Bliss isn't going to talk her way out of this one," Renee Young said on commentary. Even she sounded like she was looking forward to the incoming violence.

Abruptly, Becky swung a right hand, smashing Alexa in the face and knocking her down. Moving quickly, Becky got down and straddled her, hammering away at her with more punches. All Alexa could do was try and cover up.

"Becky Lynch is beating the hell out of Alexa Bliss! This is payback for last week!" Michael Cole cried.

After a good thirty seconds of flailing away at Alexa, Becky got up. She stood poised behind Alexa, who started struggling to get up, looking worse for wear.

As Alexa turned around, Becky pounced, grabbing her in position for a Bexploder suplex. Taking the move left Alexa lying in the middle of the ring. In the process of rolling around in pain, she was caught lying on her front by Becky, who locked in the Disarm-Her. Sitting down on Alexa's back, she wrenched it in good, and within seconds the champion was tapping. The fans cheered their approval of what they were seeing.

"Alexa Bliss is tapping!" Renee yelled.

"Alexa Bliss is being assaulted," Corey Graves corrected her.

Point made, Becky let Alexa go and got up. With her music playing, she picked up both Women's Championships from where they had fallen to the mat and held them up in the air, taking in the cheers of the fans.

At that moment Triple H walked back out onto the stage, holding another microphone. Becky's music faded out. "I've just been thinking," he said. "In addition to seeing Becky Lynch take on Asuka for the Smackdown Women's Championship at Money in the Bank, we're also going to see you, Becky, have a rematch against Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women's Championship."

The fans cheered loudly, loving the idea. Becky felt the same way, nodding her acceptance of what was on offer.

Hunter's music began to play as he walked to the back once more, bringing the segment to a close.

Becky disrespectfully tossed the Raw Women's Championship on top of Alexa and stalked out of the ring, while the commentators hyped up the two matches that she was going to be involved in at the upcoming pay-per-view.

When Raw had gone to commercial, Alexa got up and left the ring, selling the beating she had just taken. She walked up the side of the ramp and through the curtain to the back. Her part in the show was over, so she was free to head to the locker room and change.

Although things hadn't gone the way of Evolution on this episode, Alexa liked the reactions the angle was getting so far. The audience had booed her quite strongly, which was an encouraging sign for Evolution. It was obvious that they were intended to be the biggest heel women on Raw, or in fact in WWE, so walking out to crickets would have concerned her.

Turning a corner into the hallway where the locker rooms were, Alexa saw Seth Rollins sitting on top of a large equipment case. She had the distinct impression that he had chosen the place to sit quite deliberately, knowing that she would came back from the ring this way. She thought back to their failed date seven days ago. It didn't take an FBI agent to figure out that he was about to request a second chance. Right off the bat, Alexa wasn't sure how she felt about that.

"Nice job," Seth said. "You made Becky look great out there."

"Thanks," she said simply, but pleasantly, stopping to talk to him.

Seth got down off the equipment case and smiled at her. "So, last week I made an asshole of myself. I was rude to that fan, and I'm pretty sure I picked a restaurant that you didn't like. I'm wondering if I can make it up to you tonight?"

Bingo, Alexa thought. The question was whether to agree to another date or not. She was conflicted. On one hand, he had come across as a bit of a prick on their first date. But on the other hand, they had both gone into it not knowing that the other liked or what their interests were. Some of that had been resolved over the meal, and she had made her point loud and clear about he had spoken to the fan who had approached them. With those things in mind, she considered that maybe a second date would be better than the first. Seth was a great looking guy, there was no doubt about that at all. What the heck, she decided, another date might go well or it might not. If it didn't, it would be the last one, and they could go their separate ways. But it might go well. That possibility was worth giving him another chance.

"Alright," Alexa decided. "You can take me out tonight." She knew she didn't have to tell him to choose somewhere more to her liking, or to make sure he didn't show her any bad attitude this time.

Seth smiled. "Great. Meet you after the show, same as last time?"

Alexa nodded. "Alright, I'll send you a text."

"Looking forward to it," Seth said.


	6. Chapter 6

Not anticipating ending the night by going on another date with Seth Rollins, Alexa only had the dress that she was wearing and a set of ring attire with her at the arena. Obviously going out to eat in ring attire wasn't an option, so she was going to have to go in the dress that she had been beaten around the ring by Becky Lynch in. It was an expensive and nice looking dress, but it had come out of Raw looking crumpled and creased. Knowing Seth's taste in restaurants, he was probably going to take her somewhere where that would be immediately noticed by everyone in the place.

It wouldn't be long before she found out. Walking into the parking garage, she found Seth waiting by his hire car. Luckily for Alexa, she had come to the arena with Mickie, so there was not the added complication of having two cars to worry about.

When he saw her approaching, Seth smiled to greet her. "Hi. You look great."

"Thank you," Alexa said sweetly. She saw something of a hint regarding the destination in the fact that Seth had chosen to wear jeans and a t-shirt this time. Her impression now was that he had learned from his previous misstep and had opted for a restaurant a bit more suited to her tastes. If so, the dress problem might not be quite as bad after all. "This is all I had to wear. Everything else is back at the hotel. Look at the state of it."

"We can swing by your hotel if you want?" Seth offered.

"No, we'll go like this," she replied, feeling sure that his idea of a date didn't involve waiting at a hotel for her to get changed, before then driving to the restaurant. If the date was going to be a success, she didn't want to start it by messing him around.

"If you're sure," Seth said, opening his door to get in.

After a short journey during which they had talked about that night's Raw, they were arriving at Seth's chosen destination for the evening. Alexa couldn't help smiling when she saw what it was. "An IHOP," she said, chuckling.

"I got the impression my IHOP joke last week was ill-advised," Seth said with a self-depreciating smile that Alexa liked. "So, I figured what better way to make up for that than by having dinner at one of them."

"Honestly, I love IHOP," Alexa said, looking at him and smiling as he parked the car in the lot. "I eat at places like this all the time with Mike Rome."

"You guys travel together a lot, huh?" Seth asked, looking back at her.

Alexa felt awkward, like traveling with Mike was something she had to answer for. Not for the first time, she was put off by Seth's forwardness in things he said. They hadn't even gotten into the IHOP and he had repeated his IHOP faux pas from their previous date by putting his foot in his mouth and putting her off.

"We're good friends," Alexa explained. "I travel with Mike and Mickie, but Mickie hasn't been on the road much the past few months. That'll change now she's back, though."

"Sorry, didn't mean to seem like I was grilling you," Seth said, seeming to realise his mistake. Maybe something about the way she had answered had clued him in.

"It's fine. Let's eat," Alexa said. She opened her door and got out of the car, doing her best to keep positive.

They walked into the restaurant and were seated at a table for two that was near to the entrance. Alexa wasn't going to complain; it had saved her walking across the room in her crumpled dress.

Seth struck up conversation after their server took a drinks order, seeming keen to make up for his mistake in the car. "Last time, we talked about work a lot. I didn't get to know much about you outside of wrestling. I've seen plenty of pictures you've posted at Disney World, so I know you like Disney."

"Disney World is my happy place," Alexa said, cheered up merely by thinking about it. "I've always loved Disney, my entire life. We never had much money when I was growing up. It took my dad ages to save up enough to take us to Disney World. I had no idea we were going until the day we left to go down there. That trip is the happiest memory I have. Honestly, I think it always will be. Over the years, like everyone, I've had difficulties. Whenever I'm down or struggling, I try to get to Disney World for a day or more, and it makes me feel better."

The middle aged, overweight woman who was their server for the night returned with their drinks. Tonight they had both opted to avoid alcohol, and had ordered Coke.

"Are you ready to order food, or do you need another couple of minutes?" the server asked.

"We haven't looked yet," Seth told her.

"Alright, I'll come back over." She walked off, leaving them to it.

Alexa and Seth picked up their menus and started browsing as he took up the conversation following her Disney story. "For me it was always music. I was a bit of a loner, and a bit of a nerd when I was a kid. I'd sit and play video games a lot, often with headphones on, listening to music. I'd lose myself in it and it would distract me from the negative stuff in my life."

"Negative stuff?" Alexa asked gently.

"Let's just say I didn't have many friends, and I didn't have much of a home life. My mom and my step dad argued a lot. It wasn't a great place to grow up."

Alexa listened sympathetically. Her childhood hadn't been easy, but at least she had been blessed with loving parents and some good friends. She wondered if what she had just learned went some way towards explaining why Seth seemed sometimes to be unaware that his attitude or things that he said were not socially appropriate at times, especially when on a date. It made her feel a bit more inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt over what had happened in the car.

"I'm sorry to hear that," she said genuinely. "I have a couple of friends who grew up in that kind of situation, so I know it never leaves you. But I also know they get on better with their parents now than they did back then. Is that the case for you?"

"Somewhat, I guess," Seth said. "I talk to my mom on the phone sometimes and we get on okay. Do you mind if we change the subject, please?"

"Sure. I just want to say that I understand how hard it can be to leave things like that in the past. I had serious issues myself at one time, and yeah, it's rough to look back on."

"What issues, if you don't mind me asking?"

Alexa took a second to compose herself. She didn't mind telling him, it just took a lot of confidence. "I, uh, had an eating disorder," she began. "It got really serious, and I lost so much weight. My parents and my best friend did what they could to help, but it got worse and worse. I ended up in hospital, so thin that I was almost literally nothing but skin and bones. They had to put me on emergency measures to get food into me, and my mom was told I was twenty four hours away from dying. That's how bad it was. I nearly died because I wouldn't, couldn't, eat. What turned me around was my friend coming to see me that day in my hospital room. She was crying, begging me to stay alive, and she said if I thought I was fat, what kind of ugly mess did I think she was. That made me feel so awful, but it turned me around. I'm more confident about my body now," she finished, choosing her words carefully. Being more confident was not the same thing as being totally confident. Telling her story had left her with tears in her eyes, which she hurried to wipe away.

"That's awful, Alexa. I don't even know what I can say to that," Seth said, her emotional state making him feel awkward.

"You don't have to say anything," she said, managing a thin smile. "At least we both know a bit more about where each other are coming from now."

"Yeah," Seth replied quietly.

Mercifully, the server happened to come back at that moment. Placing their food orders provided something of a welcome distraction, and after the server walked away, Alexa jumped on the chance to change the subject.

"You mentioned you used to play video games a lot. I did too," she said, so brightly that it came out sounding a little forced.

Seth smiled, also looking a bit forced. "Yeah? What did you play?"

The feeling Alexa had was that although they were chatting and would soon be eating together, there wasn't much chemistry between them. It made her feel uneasy, and she already thought it was highly likely that this was going to be another failed date. Still, she pressed on with the conversation, hoping that things would pick up. "The original Playstation was the first console I had. I would play things like Tomb Raider, Spyro and Crash Bandicoot. That was my favourite game! I still love it."

Seth smiled. "Personally, I find those kinds of games frustrating. I was into sports games, racing games and fighting games. Now, when I rarely get time to play, I like the WWE games."

"I haven't played one for a couple of years," Alexa said. "Maybe we could play each other one time?" After a second she laughed. "That sounded lame, didn't it?"

Seth grinned. "Maybe a bit. But hey, if you want to play, I'm up for it. There are plenty of lonely hotel room nights to kill in this job."

"That's true," Alexa nodded, feeling like the game night they were talking about probably wasn't ever going to happen. She wondered if Seth felt the same way, or if she was the only one feeling negative about the date.

The conversation over dinner continued in the same vein. It was pleasant enough, yet lacking any kind of spark that would have made the night memorable, or encouraged Alexa to believe that something of a romantic nature might develop between them.

Seth was staying in a different hotel that night, so he drove Alexa back to hers after they left the restaurant. The chat had become strained in the car, with it being apparent to both of them that the date hadn't gone well. Pulling up right outside the hotel's entrance, Seth looked at her, looking resigned to what had happened. "I guess I blew this date as well."

"You didn't blow it, Seth. To be honest I think it's me. I don't think I'm in the right head space for dating. Thank you for the night out, and the meal. I enjoyed it." Leaning over, she gave him a peck on the cheek.

"I enjoyed it too. Thank you for your company," Seth said, not entirely hiding his disappointment, although he was obviously trying. "I'll see you at the next live event."

"See you there. Goodnight." With a parting smile, Alexa got out of the car and gently closed the door. She gave Seth a little wave, which returned as he pulled away.

Turning to walk into the hotel, Alexa sighed. She had wanted the date to go well, and now that it hadn't, she felt very depressed about it. It was going to be a lonely, miserable night in her room.

As she used the revolving door to enter the lobby, she took out her phone. There was a Whatsapp message waiting for her.

Mickie James: Let me know how the date goes! xx

Alexa wrote back: Not great. Mainly my fault, I think. I feel so out of practice with dating. She added a crying emoji before sending the reply.

A response came back before Alexa even made it to the elevators.

Mickie James: Really sorry to hear that. If it's dating practice you need, leave it to me. I have the perfect idea.


	7. Chapter 7

"I have no idea what I'm about to get into, or how you talked me into it," Alexa said to Mickie James.

Mickie laughed at her. "That's not true at all. You know exactly what you're getting into, and you let me talk you into it because you want some practice with dating before you go out with Seth again."

Alexa rolled her eyes. "I have at no point said I'm going to go on another date with Seth."

"No, but you want to. And that's why we're here tonight."

Looking at the sign standing outside of the function room they were about to enter, Alexa considered chickening out and leaving.

'Wednesday night! Speed dating! Catch your perfect match!' the sign read.

Am I really about to try speed dating? Alexa thought, cringing inwardly.

The only reason she had agreed to come with Mickie was that a large part of her did want another date with Seth Rollins, one that she could approach with more confidence. She put a lot of blame for their second failed date on herself. She hadn't come out of her shell as much as she would have liked, and it had made the whole date awkward. Looking back on it now, she cringed. Seth had told her about his childhood problems and she hadn't known what to say. Then she had talked about her eating disorder, and he hadn't known what to say to that. The night had been a disaster. In most circumstances, she would have moved on and tried to forget it, but the truth of the matter was that the more she thought about Seth, the more attractive she found him. It had gotten to the point where she had dreamed about them making love. Even Mickie didn't know that titbit of information, and Alexa had no plans to pass it on.

"We were lucky to get in tonight," Mickie said. "We were the last two women they needed when I registered us."

"I've never done anything like this before," Alexa said. "It's either going to be fun, or I'm going to want to die in embarrassment."

"Relax," Mickie said, encouraging her. "It'll be fun, and it'll get you back in practice with opening up to people. Remember, you don't have to leave here with a date tonight. You said you wanted to be able to make better conversation if you go out with Seth again, so here we are. You look gorgeous, as ever, so just enjoy yourself. That's what I'm going to do."

Alexa smiled up at her friend, feeling genuinely lucky to have someone like Mickie in her life. They truly were best friends, which made the fact that they were both now a part of Evolution even more enjoyable. "Thanks, Mickie," she said. "You're the best, you know?"

"Of course I know," Mickie smiled broadly. "Now let's go and see if I can convince any guys of that, or if I've lost my touch."

"I seriously doubt you've lost your touch," Alexa replied. "In any case, a man would have to be blind not to be interested in you."

"The flattery," Mickie laughed.

The truth was that they both looked amazing, even dressed casually. Mickie had a black crop top and blue jeans on, while Alexa had gone for a simple sleeveless black top and black leather pants. If they had been vain enough to consider it, they could have walked into the speed dating session expecting to put all of the other women there right in the shade.

"Alright, let's do this," Mickie said, leading Alexa through the open door into the function room.

Entering, Alexa saw that forty steel chairs with cushioned seats and back rests had been arranged on the floor, facing each other to make twenty pairs. There would be twenty men and twenty women in attendance. Most of them were already there, Alexa saw, looking at a group of men in one corner of the room and a group of women opposite them.

A tall blonde man approached them, smiling a greeting. He was wearing a black shirt with the same pink logo, lettering and slogan that were on the sign outside. Clearly, he was going to be the one in charge of the night's proceedings. "Evening, ladies," he said to them both.

"Hi!" Mickie replied, smiling.

"Hey," Alexa said, a little less enthusiastically. Her shyness was starting to kick in.

"Both single?" the man asked without preamble.

"Yes!" Mickie said.

"Yep," Alexa told him.

"Interested in men?"

"Yes!" Mickie said again.

"Yeah," Alexa said.

"Ready to have some fun?"

"Hell yeah!" Mickie said.

Alexa nodded. "Let's do it."

The man smiled and clapped his hands together, satisfied with their answers. He handed each of them a small laminated number with a clip to fix it to their clothes. "Excellent stuff," he said. "Put these on and go and wait with the rest of the women, please."

Alexa and Mickie walked over to the rest of the group, checking out the other women first, then looking across the room at the men while they fixed their numbers to their tops.

"Look at that tall guy in the suit," Mickie said, pretending to fan herself. "He can have my number now if he wants it, and I do mean my phone number."

"Mickie!" Alexa giggled.

"It's alright, you can have the guy next to him," Mickie said, laughing herself.

Alexa looked at a short, overweight, balding man with ginger hair and a neck beard. To make matters worse, he was wearing a basketball jersey that did the exact opposite of complimenting his figure. "I think I'll pass on that," she said, making Mickie laugh again.

"I've got number thirteen," Alexa sighed as she fixed it to her top. "Isn't that just typical? I'm going to have no luck here either."

"Girl, these guys are all going to be wanting your number. Trust me," Mickie said.

Shortly, the host was ready to get proceedings underway. He had a microphone with which to address everyone. "Okay, ladies and gentlemen, who is ready to catch their perfect match?"

There were a few muttered responses and a couple of cheers. Most of the people in the room seemed unsure about what they were about to head into. It actually made Alexa feel a bit better about things, knowing that she and Mickie were not the only first timers in the room.

"Let's have some enthusiasm!" the host said, trying to hype them up. "I said who's ready to catch their perfect match?"

Alexa joined everyone else in cheering, trying to get into the spirit of things.

"That's better! Okay, ladies, take a seat on the chair with your number on it, please."

Each of the chairs had a number on the backrest cushion. They were arranged in order, in rows of five. Alexa wasn't going to be near Mickie, so it was time for them to part ways. "Have fun," Alexa said to her friend.

"You too! Leave someone for me if you can," Mickie replied with another dazzling smile.

"Shut up! You'll be fighting them off," Alexa said as they parted ways. She went over to the chair with number thirteen on it. There was a piece of paper and a pen on the chair, which she picked up and sat down.

"Okay," the host said once all of the women were sat down. "Gentlemen, go and take a seat in front of one of the ladies. It doesn't matter which one, you're going to talk to all twenty of them before we finish."

Alexa sat and watched the men filing over to sit in front of the women. She smiled at the guy who appeared opposite her and took his seat. He was a well presented man, possibly in his late forties or early fifties. He had short hair that was showing signs of greying, but his eyes were bright and contained good humour. His smile was endearing when they made eye contact for the first time. He also had a pen and paper with him, and the number twenty five fixed to his jacket.

"Gentlemen," the host said. "You will have three minutes to talk to the lady opposite you. When the time is up, you will move around the room, following the arrows on the floor to your next seat." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Each of you have a score sheet and a pen, and you should all be wearing a number. Make a note on your score sheet of the number of anyone you like. You'll need it later. Alright, is everybody ready?"

"Yes!" Alexa exclaimed, along with everyone else.

"Okay, speed date!" he said loudly.

"Hi, I'm Lexi," Alexa said immediately, smiling at the man opposite her. She often liked to shorten her name, and it was ideal for something like this, where she might not want to give her actual name.

"Lexi, I'm Jim," the man said. He was more softly spoken than he looked, and sounded a bit nervous too.

"Nice to meet you, Jim. This is my first time doing anything like this," Alexa said. Sensing it was the same for him, she wanted to put him at ease. There was no question in her mind that she might date a man his age, but she was happy to spend the required three minutes chatting to him.

"Mine too," Jim admitted. "I was hoping there would be more people my age. I know I'm wasting my time talking to you," he said with humour.

"It doesn't have to be a waste of time. We can help each other warm up. I know I need the practice. That's actually why I'm here tonight."

"To practice dating?" Jim asked.

Alexa smiled self consciously. "Exactly. I'm so out of practice. I've been on a couple of dates with a guy I kind of like, and it's been a disaster. I just can't seem to open up, to connect with him."

"I see," Jim said. "Maybe the problem is that you're trying to make the date go well? Maybe you're trying to impress this guy? Why don't you try doing what you're doing with me right now?"

"And what is that?" Alexa asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You're talking to me. You're relaxed. You're being yourself. If you did this on a date with..." He stopped, waiting for a name.

"Seth," Alexa said.

"If you did this on a date with Seth, and he acted the same way, then you'd have more of a chance to really find out if there's a connection to be made."

Suddenly, it all clicked in Alexa's head. Jim was totally right. She didn't like going out to restaurants dressed up and putting on an act to impress someone. She liked watching movies or going to Disney World. She liked binge watching TV series with a large tub of ice cream in hand. When she did go to a restaurant, she wanted to be at ease, not afraid of saying the wrong thing or making herself look or sound stupid. She had tried to present a version of Alexa Bliss to Seth that was not the real Alexa. It was an easy mind set to get into when dating, wanting to impress a potential partner, but it was the wrong mindset. Seth needed to see the real Alexa, she needed to see the real Seth, and they needed to figure out if they liked each other based on that.

"You know what, Jim? I think you're exactly right," she said appreciatively. "That's excellent advice, and I'm going to put it into action."

Jim smiled. "Hey, even if tonight is a flop for both of us, we've achieved something."

"So, what do you do for a living?" Alexa asked.

"I'm a mortgage advisor. It's about as boring as it sounds," Jim said with another smile. "How about you?"

Alexa found it quite strange that Jim was single. He had quite a charm about him. If she had been a lot closer to his age, she might have been interested herself. "I'm a wrestler," she told him, looking forward to his reaction.

"A wrestler?" he replied, sounding like he was trying to figure out if she was for real.

"That's right. I'm a five time Women's Champion in WWE," she said with a smile of her own.

"Well, if anyone steps out of line here tonight, I know who to come to."

They both laughed, and at that moment the host cut into everyone's conversations. "Okay, that's the three minutes. Gentlemen, move on to your next positon, please."

Alexa felt sure that the rest of the night would be a waste of time now, but she was okay with that. Thanks to Jim, she had already accomplished what Mickie had brought her here to accomplish. She felt confident about how to approach another date with Seth. The question now was how to go about getting one, assuming that he was still interested.


	8. Chapter 8

By the time Money in the Bank came around, the four members of Evolution were used to having four lockers next to each other. It was all part of the process of becoming a team, and it helped with the bonding that was necessary between people who hadn't worked together much in the past. Obviously, as a relative rookie, that was particularly important for Sonya. It was up to the more experienced members of the group to take her under their wings and make sure she wasn't out of her depth.

Some chance of that, Alexa thought. Sitting in front of her locker, she smiled to herself as she watched Charlotte and Sonya talking. What a tag team they were going to make once they were unleashed on the division, Alexa thought. To her credit, Sonya had shown no nerves or lack of confidence since she had been given the role as the hot prospect of the group. If anything, she seemed to be relishing it. Without fail, she was the first Evolution member to arrive for an event, and always had her teammates' locker spaces ready with copies of the formats for the event in question, towels, and bottles of water ready for when they arrived. She was paying her dues and showing respect without needing to be told to do so, and Alexa respected the hell out of that attitude. At some point, she planned to take Sonya aside and tell her how encouraged she was by the start that she had made.

While Alexa watched them, Charlotte helped Sonya to pick a couple of loose threads off her black suit jacket. For the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, Evolution's first appearance would be one of the limo arrival scenes they were getting used to filming. It required them to 'arrive' dressed up and glammed up, looking glamourous as only Evolution could. On this particular night, Alexa had gone for a red dress, the colour matching her Raw Women's Championship. Mickie had on a dark blue dress, Charlotte wore grey pants and a dark blue blazer, while Sonya had chosen a black suit, completing the look with a pair of aviator sunglasses perched on her head.

"Right, I think it's time for a quick coffee run before the show starts," Charlotte said.

"I'll come with you," Sonya offered immediately. She looked at Alexa and Mickie. "Your usual, guys?"

"Yes, please," Mickie said as Alexa smiled and nodded.

Sonya and Charlotte left the locker room, heading for catering.

"I'm very impressed with Sonya," Alexa said quietly to Mickie, wanting the conversation to be only between the two of them. Evolution's business wasn't for the rest of the locker room.

"I've been thinking the same thing," Mickie said. "You can see why she was chosen for Evolution. Excellent attitude backstage, seriously hard worker, and huge potential in the ring. I'm honestly excited to see her grow over the coming months. Charlotte is going to start travelling with her, too."

"Oh, that's good," Alexa smiled. Actually, it was perfect. Sonya had a member of the group to travel with, and it didn't involve changing her own arrangement, spending her time on the road with Mickie and Mike Rome, her two closest friends in WWE.

"Yeah, they're getting along great. Hopefully after tonight is done with they'll start teaming on TV."

Alexa nodded, thinking over what was planned for the pay-per-view that would shortly be getting underway. Thanks to the new rule about no rematch clauses, Charlotte was not going to be facing Becky Lynch for the Smackdown Women's Championship. That honour had been given to Mandy Rose. Instead, Charlotte had been put into the Money in the Bank ladder match. Sonya would play a part in that, interfering to try and help her ally to victory. Charlotte would not be winning, however, which was understandable considering the plans to move her to the tag team division.

That left Mickie and Alexa, who both had a part to play in the women's main event of the night, where the Raw Women's Championship would be on the line. It was to be Alexa's first match since her faction had formed, and she was very much looking forward to it. There was something else on her mind, and having a bit of time alone with Mickie was the perfect opportunity to bring it up.

"Mickie, what do I do about Seth?" she asked.

"You make it sound like you're trying to call in a hit on him," Mickie said, laughing.

Alexa burst out laughing too. "You know what I mean. We talked about it the other night."

Although she was still smiling, Mickie turned serious. "You want an idea for the best way to get another date with him without looking desperate or putting him off."

"Exactly," Alexa said seriously. "I've never asked a guy out before. It usually goes the other way, you know?"

"Well, for a start you don't want to ask him on a date. You want to hint to him that you're interested in another date, and let him ask you, assuming he wants one too."

"Yeah, that sounds like an idea," Alexa said appreciatively, nodding slowly.

"If I was you, what I'd do is wait until Seth has had his match. Wait for him backstage somewhere and congratulate him on his performance. You don't need me to tell you how to flirt."

"Flirting I can do," Alexa said, wishing she wasn't so out of practice at it.

"Of course you can. And if Seth doesn't ask you on another date, that just proves he's as dumb as a box of rocks."

Alexa laughed. "Thanks, Mick. You always know the right things to say."

The conversation was wrapped up with perfect timing, just before Charlotte and Sonya returned with the drinks. It was time for the four of them to turn their attention to the show.

* * *

Evolution arriving at a show while it was on air was becoming something of a routine occurrence. The unspoken implication was that they could come and go as they pleased, and there wasn't much anyone was going to do about it. For that reason, there probably wasn't much of an air of mystery in the arena when a long black limo was shown pulling into the parking garage after the night's opening contest.

When the limo came to a stop, the driver got out and opened the rear door. As usual, a cameraman was in position to capture the first foot hitting the floor. It was a dainty foot in a red high heel shoe with diamond-like stones gleaming on the strap across the foot. The camera panned up to reveal Alexa Bliss. She looked stunning in her red dress, with her championship belt slung over her shoulder.

Charlotte was next out of the limo. She had an arrogant smile on her face. "Tonight is the night I become Ms Money in the Bank."

"Yes," Alexa said, nodding her approval. "And when you do, you can cash in on Becky Lynch, and Evolution will have taken away both of her titles."

"Maybe then people will start taking the proper notice of us," Sonya said, emerging from the limo.

"Most of them around here aren't quick to catch on," Alexa told her, showing contempt for her colleagues.

Mickie was last to get out of the limo. "That's true," she said. "But we'll teach them the same thing we're going to teach the so-called WWE Universe: Evolution is here to change the face of women's wrestling for good."

"We're here to do it, and we're going to do it," Alexa said firmly. "Tonight, I beat Becky Lynch in the rematch she should never even have been given, and that rids her from Raw for good. Come on, ladies, let's go."

Alexa led the group of four gorgeous ladies towards the arena entrance as the segment ended.

* * *

In the fifth match of the night, Becky Lynch had successfully defended her Smackdown Women's Championship against Mandy Rose, tapping her out with the Disarm-Her. During the closely-fought encounter, Mandy had worked on Becky's right knee, meaning that despite the victory, Becky left the ring with a heavy limp.

Making her way up the aisle to the stand in front of the stage, Becky turned around to face the ring. Triumphantly, she raised both of her title belt in the air, one in each hand. The fans cheered enthusiastically, at least for the first few moments. Abruptly, they started booing and shouting.

Unbeknownst to Becky, Mickie James had walked through the curtain behind her. Even worse, she was carrying a sledgehammer. The fans were trying to alert Becky to the danger, but she wasn't receiving the message.

Walking up behind Becky, Mickie swung the hammer like a baseball bat, smashing it into the back of Becky's already injured knee. The crowd howled and gasped in horror as Becky went down like a bag of went send, clutching her knee and screaming in pain.

Tossing the hammer aside, Mickie kicked Becky square in the face, almost knocking her out cold. With that done, she was free to grab her by the shoulders and drag her back down the aisle towards the ring.

Reaching ringside, Mickie hauled Becky up off the floor and shoved her under the bottom rope, leaving her prone in the ring. Her intention of softening up Becky before her match with Alexa was blatantly obvious, however the fans began to chant for Bayley, who had won the women's Money in the Bank match immediately before Becky and Mandy's match. They were hoping to see a cash-in already. To their disappointment, Evolution's music began to play, and it wasn't for Mickie James.

Walking slowly out into the arena, Alexa wore a nasty little smile on her face. Her opponent had been left in no fit state to wrestle, but wrestle she would. The referee from the previous match was still out there, yelling at Mickie to get away from ringside.

Now that the damage had been done, Mickie was only too happy to leave. Meeting Alexa halfway down the aisle, they exchanged a nod of mutual appreciation, and Mickie patted her on the back as a gesture of good luck, although it was hardly going to be necessary.

Like a shark smelling blood in the water, Alexa approached the ring. She rolled under the bottom rope and handed her title belt to the referee, ordering him to ring the bell. The title defence she had been forced into by Triple H was going to take place right there and then.

The Evolution theme stopped playing as the referee objected to starting the match, pointing to Becky, who was struggling to get to her feet in the corner, saying she was in no fit state to compete.

"She's on her feet! Ring the bell!" Alexa ordered.

Becky was indeed on her feet, or at least one of them. Hobbling out of the corner, she was barely able to put her right foot down thanks to the damage done to her knee. Hurling herself forward, Becky tackled Alexa to the mat and started hammering away at her with right hands.

The challenger's brave act forced the referee's hand. He had no choice but to call for the bell and make the match official as he took the belt over to the corner of the ring to hand it to the timekeeper.

By the time he turned around, Alexa had wriggled out from under Becky. As Becky struggled back up, Alexa kicked her brutally in her already ruined knee, sending her collapsing to the mat.

With a look of scorn on her face, Alexa looked down at her challenger. Finding the crippled mess contemptible, she shook her head slowly.

Inside, Alexa was delighted. Boos were raining down on her, and she was sure the commentary team were talking up the appalling actions of Evolution, building their heat up even more.

Determined to go down fighting if she was going to go down, Becky somehow struggled back up once more.

Alexa leapt into the air and delivered the headscissors DDT now known as Evolution of Bliss. The outcome of the match was academic from the moment Becky's head was spiked into the canvas.

Alexa got down and made a cover, basking in her glory.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

The fans groaned, sounding as defeated as Becky was.

As the Evolution theme started to play again, Alexa got up to celebrate her victory. She snatched her championship belt from the referee and triumphantly held it up. In the past, she might have made a crying gesture with her free hand, but now she just stood there looking like the head bitch in charge. Alexa knew it would be a powerful image. Best of all, as far as Evolution was concerned, this was only the start.


	9. Chapter 9

Taking Mickie's advice, Alexa had decided to wait for Seth backstage near to Gorilla after his match ended. Congratulating him on what had genuinely been an impressive showing against AJ Styles was the perfect opportunity to do a bit of flirting, showing him that despite their previous two failed dates, she was interested in a third.

Remembering the last time Seth had asked her out, when she had found him sitting on an equipment case as he waited for her, she decided to do exactly the same thing herself. Climbing up onto the case, she only had to wait a minute before she saw AJ approaching. As the loser of the match, he had naturally been the first to leave the arena.

"Lexi," AJ said politely, giving her a smile as he walked by her.

"AJ. Nice job out there."

"Thanks."

As AJ disappeared around the corner towards the locker rooms, Alexa crossed her legs, trying her utmost to look cute and sexy before Seth arrived.

Moments later, he came walking down the hallway, carrying his championship belt and drinking from a bottle of water. After he downed the rest of the water, Alexa could see him smiling, having noticed her sitting there.

"Hey," Seth said as he neared her.

"Hello," Alexa said innocently, as if she had just happened to be sitting on a random equipment case in the hallway for no reason. "Nice match. You were very impressive indeed."

"Thanks," Seth said, his smile broadening. "You were impressive too."

"I barely did anything tonight," Alexa giggled.

"I know, yet you still looked badass."

"Why thank you," Alexa said, embarrassingly feeling her cheeks warming up. She felt like Seth realised she was trying to flirt with him, and was wavering on the edge of asking her for another date. She didn't want to push it any further in case she looked desperate. What he said next came as a surprise to her.

"Looking forward to Friday?"

Alexa had no idea what he was talking about. "What do you mean? Why would I be looking forward to Friday?"

"Oh, you haven't been told yet? Why does that not surprise me with WWE?"

"Been told what?" Alexa demanded, feeling even more confused.

"You and Becky are with Kofi, Hunter, Vince and I at the opening of the WWE Centre. Apparently someone realised it wasn't exactly appropriate to have the two male champions there and not the women."

"Oh!" Alexa exclaimed. "Well, that's news to me. I wonder when they were planning on letting me know?"

"Before you left tonight, I would imagine. Or at least, I would hope," Seth said, sounding unsure about how much faith to put in the communication skills of their higher ups.

Now that she had the news, even from the wrong person, Alexa was excited to be a part of Friday's event. The WWE Centre was the biggest step forward for the company since they had opened the Performance Centre. She had seen some pictures of the arena and its associated complex while it had been under construction, but taking a tour around the finished article was going to be something else entirely. And as if that wasn't enough, it was located not far from Disney World.

"I bet I can guess what you're thinking right now," Seth said.

Alexa smiled at him. "Oh, can you indeed? Go on then."

"You're thinking about how close we're going to be to Disney World while we're down there. I'm wondering if maybe I could take you there after we're done at the WWE Centre?" Seth asked hopefully, before immediately floundering. "I mean I could go with you, if you wanted to? You obviously don't need me to take you."

The way he tripped over his words made Alexa smile warmly. "I don't need anyone to go with me to a restaurant either, but it's nicer when they do."

Seth laughed awkwardly. "I don't usually have problems like this talking to women."

Alexa laughed too. "I think there was a compliment in there somewhere."

"There definitely was," he assured her. "What I'm trying to say is, I know neither of our dates went well. I've been seriously annoyed with myself over it. I'd like to go on another date, to Disney World, if you'll go with me?"

"I'll go with you," Alexa beamed. The speed dating trip had really given her a kick up the ass. She didn't want to end up as one of those luckless daters. Despite the less than ideal start they had made, she wanted to give things another shot with Seth. If she couldn't enjoy a date at Disney World it would be clear that it wasn't to be. But it was the perfect setting for them to have a great time, and hopefully make a meaningful connection at last. There was, however, one stipulation she had to lay down. "If I don't see you wearing Mickey Mouse ears, the date is off."

To his credit, Seth didn't miss a beat. "Mickey Mouse ears it is. I'll see you Friday. Have a good night."

"You too," Alexa said, flashing him another dazzling smile as he departed.

Alexa had been sitting with her phone in her hand. Now that Seth was gone, she typed out a quick message to Mickie:  _Seth asked me out again! We're going to Disney World on Friday!_

A reply came back almost straight away: _Yes! So happy for you! You'll have a great time!_

"I sure hope so," Alexa said to herself.

* * *

The next morning, Alexa was traveling with Mickie and Mike Rome to the city where Raw was going to take place that night. It was Mike's turn to drive, and Alexa was sitting up front beside him. She had spent the past half hour telling him about her two dates with Seth Rollins, and about the third one that would be happening in a matter of days.

"I'm happy for you, Lexi, I really am," Mike said, glancing at her with a smile that she noticed was hiding another emotion.

"I feel like there's a but coming," she said.

"I'm just going to say if it doesn't go well again this time, it might not be the best idea to continue chasing him. Some things aren't meant to be, and I don't want to see you get hurt."

Alexa gave him a thin smile, having no doubt that he had her best interests at heart. "I hear you, Mike. I'm not going to get myself hurt, Seth and I are just trying to find our way. I'm very out of practice with dating. I'm confident that going to Disney World will a great time for us both. How could it not be? It's Disney World!"

Mike had to laugh, enjoying her excitement. "I know it's your happy place. I hope you have a great time."

"Thank you. Me too," Alexa said. "I'm also looking forward to being there for the opening of the WWE Centre. I can't believe Vince didn't come and tell me and Becky about it until we were about to leave the building last night, yet somehow Seth already knew."

"Typical WWE," Mike chuckled. "The person who needs to know is the last one to find out. It will be cool to be there for the opening, though. I can't wait to get down there and have a look around myself. I heard they're going to do a lot of cool stuff for fans down there too, like unannounced meet and greet sessions at the superstore, where superstars just walk into the place and start meeting people."

"I heard that too," Alexa said. "It will be a lot of fun for people. They'll go in there to shop and in the back of their heads they'll be wondering if they'll get to meet one of us. Plus there's the restaurant and bar, where people can watch WWE shows live."

After a second, Mike laughed, keeping a careful eye on the busy interstate traffic. "I was about to say we could go down there one night, the three of us. But we'll kind of be on the show."

Alexa laughed loudly. It was that kind of silliness that she really enjoyed about their friendship.

In the back seat, Mickie had been watching something on her phone with her earbuds in. Alexa's laughter made her look up and take them out. "What are you two laughing about?" she asked with a smile.

"Mike was about to suggest we go and watch Raw at the restaurant at the WWE Centre when it opens," Alexa said, laughing again.

Mickie joined in with the laughter. "I'm not sure that's going to work. We could theoretically go there to watch NXT, but honestly, I don't think it would be a good place for wrestlers to go for a night out. We wouldn't get a minute to ourselves, with people wanting pictures and stuff."

"This is also true," Mike said. "How about we just forget I had that idea?"

The ladies chuckled, but Mickie let him off the hook by changing the subject. "Guys, I was just listening to something really cool. I was sent it a few times on Twitter. You're tagged in it too, Lexi."

Alexa turned in her seat to look at her friend. "What is it? I hardly ever check my mentions on there."

"It's someone singing a cover version of our theme song. Here, have a listen."

"Covering a Motorhead song? That's brave," Mike said, keeping his attention on the road as Mickie passed her phone and earbuds to Alexa.

"True, but she does a great job," Mickie said. "It kind of gave me goosebumps if I'm honest."

"I'm going to put these in so I can hear it properly," Alexa said to Mike. The sound of their car's engine and the busy traffic around them did not exactly make good listening conditions.

"Alright. I'll check it out later," Mike said.

Alexa put the earbuds in and turned her attention to Mickie's phone screen. She found herself on a YouTube video posted on a channel simply named Clementine. The channel apparently had just over a million subscribers. Before watching the video in question, Alexa tapped to go to the channel page to see what other content this Clementine person put out. The list of videos were all cover versions of songs, some of which Alexa recognised the names of, and some that she didn't. The most recent video was titled 'WWE Evolution theme – Motorhead – Line in the Sand'. Alexa hadn't even known that was the title of the song, much as she liked it.

Tapping on the video to start it, Alexa saw a young African American woman sitting at a piano. She had her black her in two little pig tails. Cute, Alexa thought, liking her first impression. But it was when Clementine started playing their theme song on the piano and singing that she really started taking notice. Hearing the familiar tune sound so different played on a piano instead of with guitars was striking, and the way Clementine sang made it sound like a sorrowful song rather than an intimidating one. She had a voice that was so powerful, yet in a kind of understated way. It really was unique.

"This is amazing," Alexa said quietly as she listened.

"See my reflection change, nothing ever stays the same," Clementine sang at the start of the second verse, bringing to Alexa's mind an image of what she might look like herself in twenty or thirty years' time, as aging inevitable took a toll on her, as it did with everyone. It was truly moving.

"Wow. So powerful," Alexa said, taking out the earbuds. "That girl has some voice, and she can sure play a piano. I'm sure I'd appreciate it even more if I knew the first thing about how to play or sing myself."

"I agree," Mickie said. "I was reading the comments, and everyone is blown away. Loads of people were asking her to sing other WWE themes. It gave me an idea that maybe I could suggest to Hunter seeing if they can do some kind of deal with her. I know I'd buy an album of her singing themes, and maybe she could sing songs for promo packages and stuff."

Alexa nodded, appreciating the idea. "No harm in suggesting it to him. She's got a million subs, so there's some traction behind her. Even if they're not interested in any kind of music deal, they can invite her backstage to a Raw episode or something. It would be cool to meet her."

"I'll speak to Hunter about it tonight," Mickie decided.


	10. Chapter 10

The third segment of Raw began with Peyton Royce and Billie Kay in the ring. The Women's Tag Team Champions had not defended their titles at Money in the Bank, but that did not stop them wittering away in their typically annoying manner about what great champions they were and how well they had carried the titles since winning them at Wrestlemania. They had fun taking jabs at the former champions, particularly Sasha Banks, who in their version of events had been so embarrassed in defeat that she had chosen to go home and cry about it.

"I don't find that funny. I don't find it funny at all," Renee Young said on commentary.

The crowd seemed to agree, as there was barely any kind of reaction at all from them. That changed when Evolution's music began to play. Although they booed, some of the crowd got to their feet, looking towards the stage. It was a sign of respect for the powerful new faction, showing that everyone knew business was about to pick up.

As ever, the four Evolution ladies were impeccably dressed and made up. Despite Charlotte failing to win the Money in the Bank match the previous night, all of them looked smug and content with life, particularly Alexa, who had her Raw Women's Championship over her shoulder. She looked like exactly what she was: the person at the top of women's wrestling.

Leading the way down the entrance ramp, Alexa felt incredibly pleased with the reaction their entrance had received. People realised that Evolution was already a big deal, and was only going to grow stronger with time. For the first time in a long time, she actually felt excited about the creative direction she was being given. A lot of faith had been put in her to lead the group, and she wanted to make the most of the opportunity. Being back in top sure felt good after being plagued by injury problems for the past year.

As Evolution entered the ring, the IIconics took refuge in a corner, looking wary and unsure as to why they had been interrupted by Alexa's group. They were not going to have to wait long to find out, for Alexa went over to the corner closest to the timekeeper's area and was handed a microphone.

"That's enough mindless babbling from the two if you," Alexa said to the IIconics as Evolution's music faded out. "You're out here talking about being great Tag Team Champions, when the truth of the matter is you've had no serious challenge since the night you won them. That's going to change at the next pay-per-view, Stomping Grounds, because I talked with Shane McMahon earlier, and he granted a match between the IIconics and any two members of Evolution, and those tag team titles of yours will be on the line."

Peyton and Billie looked nervously at each other, not liking what they were hearing.

"I have decided that the two people you will be facing are Charlotte Flair," Alexa announced, pausing to wait out the inevitable boos, while Charlotte treated the crowd to a 'Wooo'.

"And Sonya Deville," Alexa finished, smiling at that part of her announcement. "What all this means is that after Stomping Grounds is over, Evolution will not only have one champion, we will have three."

Alexa's smugness was promptly brought to an end by Becky Lynch's music hitting. Despite no longer being Raw Women's Champion, she was able to use the new wildcard rule to appear. The fans certainly seemed to be happy she was there, giving the Smackdown Women's Champion a loud response as she limped out onto the stage, her knee heavily bandaged after Mickie's sledgehammer attack at Money in the Bank.

Becky looked furious, and certainly sounded it when she launched right into Alexa. "Bliss, that's twice now you've screwed The Man out of the Raw Women's Championship, and last night you had that little flunky of yours Mickie James try and cripple me in the process. I admit my knee is pretty banged up tonight, but I can walk, and that means she didn't get the job done. It also means I'm going to kick your arse like never before, right here tonight!"

"Actually, no, you're not," Alexa snapped back over cheers for Becky. "I beat you for this championship, and I beat you again at Money in the Bank, in the rematch you never should have been given. I have nothing left to prove against you. However, if you're so keen to have a match tonight, you can have one." Alexa walked up to Sonya and slapped her on the back. "Against this woman!"

Sonya quickly put her hair up, signalling that she was ready to square up.

"Let me just tell you exactly who this is," Alexa said, keeping her hand on Sonya's back, both of them facing Becky up on the stage. "This is Sonya Deville. This is the future of women's wrestling in WWE. You see, that's one of the key things about Evolution. WWE is always evolving, and we have the absolute hottest prospect already locked down. At Stomping Grounds, Sonya will win her first championship in WWE, but before that, tonight..."

Alexa was interrupted by Peyton Royce smashing her in the back of the head with a forearm. Simultaneously, Billie Kay had done the same to Sonya, knocking them both down. Heels or not, the IIconics were cheered enthusiastically for their actions.

Charlotte and Mickie reacted quickly to the attack, but not quickly enough to catch the IIconics, who scooted out of the ring on the entrance side.

While Raw went to commercial, the women got into position for the six woman tag team match that was going to take place instead of the Becky – Sonya match that had almost been made. Alexa would be the one to stand at ringside, while her three teammates competed. Thanks to her recent concussion issues, Alexa was going to be used sparingly for a while. In any event, it worked well with her image as the leader of Evolution.

Becky went on to win the match by tapping out Mickie, handing Evolution their first defeat, and giving some momentum to the IIconics ahead of their championship defence at the upcoming pay-per-view.

From Evolution's point of view, the notable positive to take from the match was an impressive performance from Sonya, who had spent several minutes beating the crap out of first Billie Kay and then Peyton Royce. It showed that she was now going to be booked as the real deal, not someone who stood at ringside most weeks, as she had done back on Smackdown.

* * *

Mentoring someone was a job Alexa hadn't done since her time in NXT, where it was expected that every roster member worked with a less experienced recruit in training. The coaches down in Orlando considered it a key skill that needed to be developed, and had taught Alexa how to do it.

That had been a long time ago, though. Alexa had been on the main roster for several years, and only now was she being asked to mentor someone for the first time since her call up.

On the plus side, she could not have asked for a more talented, committed and pleasant woman to work with than Sonya Deville. Calling her the future of the women's division was as true off screen as it was on it.

Now that they were a few weeks into their time in Evolution, Alexa had decided to take Sonya aside in catering for a chat over a cup of coffee.

"So, how are you finding being a part of Evolution so far?" Alexa asked once they were settled at a table.

Sonya sipped her hot coffee, then smiled. "When I was first told about what was going to happen, naturally I was excited, but I also felt sad. I knew Mandy wasn't coming to Raw. We've been together ever since we got called up to form Absolution. I knew I would miss her so much, and I really do."

Sympathetically, Alexa nodded her understanding. "A team breaking up can be so hard. I've seen people suffer with it before. You've shown absolutely no sign of letting it get to you though."

"It hasn't been getting to me," Sonya was happy to report. "Although I've missed Mandy, I've focused everything I have on Evolution. I appreciate you, Char and Mickie for how welcoming and kind you've been. I honestly do feel like a part of the group."

"You are a part of the group," Alexa said, leaving no room for doubt. "We're all very pleased with the dedication and professionalism you've shown. Speaking purely for myself, I can also say I can't wait to see you develop even further in the ring as well. You weren't used well on Smackdown. That's going to change now that you're over here with us."

"Thanks, Lexi," Sonya said sincerely.

"You're welcome. I'm sorry we've not had a one on one chat like this before now to be honest. Anyway, I want you to know that you can always come to me if you need anything. You can always ask anything you need to ask."

Sonya took a rather hesitant-looking drink from her coffee cup, giving Alexa the distinct impression that there was already something she had on her mind.

"Tell me what you're thinking," Alexa encouraged.

"It's just that I don't really have a finisher," Sonya explained. "They've had me use the kick to the side of the head, but it's never really been put over as a finish. It doesn't even have a name."

"Hmm," Alexa said thoughtfully. "I can understand why they gave you the kick to use. You have an MMA background, and your striking attacks are impressive. What you could maybe do is use a different kind of kick? One that looks more like a finish."

"Any ideas?" Sonya asked, open to suggestions.

Alexa drank her coffee for a minute, taking time to think. One idea did come to mind. "What about something like the Brogue Kick that Sheamus uses? If you wanted to vary it up a bit you could hit the opponent in the chest with it instead of in the head."

"That might not be a bad idea," Sonya said thoughtfully. "If I hit people hard and it sends them flying backwards off their feet, that might look pretty badass."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll have a word with Mickie and Charlotte, and you can practice on us next time we have a chance."

"Thanks, Alexa," Sonya said, beaming. "I'm loving all this so much. I can't even tell you how much I'm looking forward to Stomping Grounds. It'll be my first big pay-per-view match. I'm so hyped."

"You'll do an amazing job," Alexa said with a smile. "I don't even know who I'm facing there yet. Before we get that far, I'm down at the WWE Centre on Friday for the opening ceremony."

"I know! That's going to be so much fun!" Sonya exclaimed. "It's going to be such a cool place for the fans, and for us. I don't know about you, but I genuinely do love meeting my fans. It still seems crazy to me that there are people out there who I've never met who want nothing but the best for me. Like, that's so humbling."

Alexa nodded, thinking that Sonya probably had no idea how much her popularity and fan base was about to explode.

What Alexa wasn't going to discuss with her new teammate was the other thing she was looking forward to on Friday: the date with Seth Rollins. The third time was hopefully going to be the charm, she thought, mentally crossing her fingers.


	11. Chapter 11

WWE had sent an SUV to pick up Alexa, Becky, Seth and Kofi from their hotel in downtown Orlando. They were being driven to the brand new WWE Centre, where they would be taking part in the opening ceremony.

Alexa and Becky had ended up sitting in the back row of seats, with Seth and Kofi in front of them. Unlike their on-screen characters, the two ladies got along well with each other.

"Have you seen much of this place?" Becky asked, referring to their destination.

Sipping the coffee she had bought at the Starbucks outlet in the hotel's lobby, Alexa shook her head. "I haven't. I haven't been using Twitter or Instagram much lately. In a way I'm kind of glad I haven't been spoiled. It'll have more of a wow factor for me this way."

"I won't say much to spoil then," Becky said. "You will definitely be impressed though. They must have spent a serious amount of money on the place. No wonder they're making a big deal of the opening."

"Yeah, and they even remembered that women exist in time for us to take part," Alexa said, showing her distaste for the original plan, which had been for only Kofi and Seth to join Hunter Helmsley and Vince McMahon for the ceremony.

"Some of the things that go on in this company are staggering," Becky agreed with a laugh. She looked at Seth and Kofi, who were having an animated conversation over what sounded like football to Alexa, who never watched it.

"They're having fun," Becky said quietly.

Alexa had no intention of going near the subject of the date she had planned with Seth for later that day. Instead, she opted to roll her eyes. "It's men, and it's football."

"Say no more," Becky giggled.

A WhatsApp arrived on Alexa's phone from Mickie, asking if she was at the WWE Centre yet. Receiving contact from her best friend brought to Alexa's mind a subject that she could make conversation about as she typed a quick reply. "So, Mickie was sent something on Twitter a few days back."

"Dick pics?" Becky guessed.

Alexa laughed loudly, looking up from her phone to make eye contact. "Undoubtedly. But I'm talking about something a lot nicer than someone's two inches that they're inexplicably proud of. It was a video of a young woman singing our entrance theme."

"Oh yeah, I saw that," Becky said, nodding. "I think Sonya or Mickie retweeted it and I watched it. I thought she was really good."

"So did we. Mickie and I talked about it, and we decided to speak to Hunter about her. We wondered if he might be interested in approaching her with a view to doing some kind of deal where she would sing cover versions of theme songs. We imagined maybe they might bring an album out or something."

"Interesting idea," Becky said, conveying her approval. "Did Hunter go for it?"

"It's kind of up in the air at the minute," Alexa said. "Mickie spoke to him about it the other day. He said he would listen to some of Clementine's work on her YouTube channel and see what he thought. He texted her the next day and said he was going to have someone reach out with an initial approach, so he must have liked it. Obviously there's no guarantee Clementine will be interested herself, so we'll have to wait and see."

"Let's hope something comes of it," Becky said with a smile.

"Looks like we're here," Kofi said, looking out of his window.

He was sitting on the same side as Becky, so Alexa had to lean over to get her first look at the WWE Centre. The view they had was predominantly of one end of the building. It was glazed, with metal pillars, and had an enormous WWE logo in the glass. It looked imposing and state of the art, a striking first impression.

"Looks sick to be fair," Seth said.

"Agreed," Becky said. "It's the inside I'm looking forward to seeing, especially the superstore. Apparently they have a shit load of old merch there, as well as the current stuff. I could spend all day looking through it all."

"Me too!" Alexa exclaimed. "I'm going to have to come and do a shopping trip of my own one day."

A minute or so later, the driver pulled the SUV up near to the WWE Centre's main entrance. There was a ceremonial red ribbon across some of the entrance doors. Apparently someone would have the privilege of cutting it to formally declare the arena complex open at the end of the ceremony. There was also a lectern with a microphone, leading Alexa to assume she might be making a short speech soon, although she had nothing prepared.

"There's Vince," Kofi said, spotting the boss wearing one of his uniquely hideous brown suits. "Hunter and Steph are there too."

"Didn't know Steph was coming, but I guess it makes sense for them all to be here," Becky said.

The four wrestlers got out on the SUV, cameras from the small assembled media and WWE contingent clicking away immediately. Befitting her new Evolution image, Alexa had chosen to wear a smart-looking silver dress. For obvious reasons, she had also brought her championship belt, as had her three colleagues. She put the belt over her shoulder and walked beside Seth over to the McMahons, who were chatting away informally to some of the media people.

"I didn't know we were supposed to be doing speeches," Alexa said quietly to Seth.

"We're not. Becky and Kofi are doing them," he replied at a similar volume.

"Oh," Alexa said, lamenting WWE's communication skills once more.

"We're cutting the ribbon," Seth added.

"No one told me any of this," Alexa said frustratedly.

Seth just shook his head, unsurprised.

Alexa kept her irritation to herself as she greeted the three bosses. When all was said and done, this was a big day for WWE. Apparently her role was to stand there on camera with her title belt, smile and look like she was having the time of her life. Media stuff could be such a drag sometimes. All she wanted to do was go inside and have a look around.

Shortly, the opening ceremony got underway. Hunter gave the first small speech, followed by Steph, then Becky, and lastly Kofi. All of them essentially said the same things, bigging up what a huge step forward it was for WWE to have built their own arena complex, how exciting it was going to be for fans and superstars alike, and so on. Vince was last to speak. By now, Alexa was barely even listening. All she needed to catch was the cue for her and Seth to cut the ribbon.

"And now to cut the ribbon, the Raw Women's Champion, Alexa Bliss, and the WWE Universal Champion, Seth Rollins!" Vince announced.

Hunter handed Seth a huge black pair of scissors for them to cut the ribbon with. They were so big that it would require Seth to work one handle, and Alexa the other. Walking over to the ribbon with Seth, Alexa took the bottom handle and helped him to snip through the ribbon before turning and smiling towards the cameras as if she had just found a cure for cancer. Such fakery, but that was media, she thought as everyone applauded.

"I declare the WWE Centre officially open!" Vince announced.

With the formal part of the proceedings over with, the non-WWE cameramen started packing up their equipment to leave. Only the WWE Network crew had work still to do. At Vince's direction, they started filming a piece to camera with Stephanie. While that was being done, Vince walked over to the four wrestlers, who had congregated back together.

"That went well," the Chairman said with satisfaction. "When Steph's done over there, each of you are going to do a short interview for the website, then you'll have a tour around the complex. You'll be filmed while you walk around, so I want to see a lot of positivity. This is all about encouraging as many people as possible to want to come here."

Naturally, Alexa thought as she impassively nodded her understanding.

"Then, this evening," Vince went on, "you're going to eat in the WWE Centre Restaurant, again, being filmed. Seth and Alexa, you'll be on one table. Kofi and Becky, you'll be on another. Think of it as something similar to a Table for Three episode."

Alexa looked at Seth, feeling a lot less than happy about that little surprise being dropped on them. She saw that he felt the same way. Their proposed date at Disney World had just gone west. She figured that there was no point trying to object to Vince about it. The old man wouldn't change his mind even if they did, and he would probably get annoyed with them.

"Problem?" Vince asked Seth, apparently having seen his look at Alexa.

"No," Seth said calmly. "Alexa and I were going to go and hit up Disney World for a bit after we were done here."

"Disney World isn't going anywhere," Vince said, not even considering changing his plans to suit them. He glanced over at Stephanie, seeing her wrapping up her interview. "Looks like Steph is done. Kofi, why don't you go next?"

Vince walked with Kofi away from the group as Alexa took Seth aside to speak to him away from Becky. "Well, that's great, isn't it?" she grumbled. "So much for our third date."

"So much for having it at Disney World anyway," Seth said, a hint of mischief in his tone.

Alexa raised her eyebrows. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"We're going to have dinner together, apparently. I was promised a third date tonight, so there it is."

Alexa couldn't help laughing, even in incredulity. "I am not having a date on camera!"

Now Seth laughed. In the moment, she had spoken much louder than she would have wanted to. "I think everyone probably heard that. Becky certainly must have."

"Fuck," Alexa cursed under her breath, her cheeks turning red.

"Look, it'll be fun," Seth said, trying to sell the idea to her. "We'll sit and talk, eat some good food and have a laugh. I think the last two times we both put too much effort into trying to impress each other, and it had totally the opposite effect."

"I said exactly the same thing to Mickie," Alexa revealed. "To be completely open with you, I'm out of practice with dating. I was in a relationship for a long time, and after that ended, I was so focused on my career that I barely even put a thought towards my love life."

"I understand." Seth thought for a moment and said, "How's this for a plan: We'll have this dinner on camera, and if it goes well we can have a drink in the bar before we call it a night."

That actually did sound nice to Alexa. She would have much preferred the dinner not to be filmed, but that was not in her hands or Seth's. She felt like they had a better understanding of where they were coming from now, and they might be able to talk without the awkwardness that had contributed to spoiling their first two dates.

When Kofi finished doing his interview, Seth was called over next. After he walked away from Alexa, Becky came over to her, a conspiratorial look on her face. "I could hardly help overhearing what you said. You and Seth are dating, huh?"

Alexa cringed. "We've had two dates. It's really early days, and I totally didn't mean to say that loudly enough for you to hear."

Becky patted her on the shoulder. "My lips are sealed. I hope you have a good night."

"Thanks, Becks. Me too." This time, Alexa actually felt like she was going to get her wish. Cameras or not, this date was going to be a success, she told herself with determination.


	12. Chapter 12

The tour around the WWE Centre had impressed Alexa. The interior of the complex matched the first impression visitors got of it from the outside – it was state of the art, with no expense apparently having been spared on its construction. The arena bowl itself was furnished with padded seats that stood half a chance of actually being comfortable to sit in, and the executive suites were up there with the best she had ever seen.

Around the complex were multiple stores and restaurants, including the flagship WWE Centre Restaurant and WWE Centre Superstore. True to the rumours she had heard, Alexa had found that the superstore did indeed stock a huge selection of retro merchandise. She would have been happy to spend a few hours looking at everything, and probably buying half of it, but they had only been given a short amount of time to look around.

It was as Alexa was walked out of the superstore when time had been called on their visit that Hunter beckoned her aside for a word away from the other wrestlers. It was the first time she'd had a proper chance to talk to him that day. "This place is truly amazing," she offered with a broad smile. "Fans are going to be in their element in the superstore. It's better than Christmas morning having all of that merch in one place."

"It's great isn't it?" Hunter said with a smile of his own. "We've all been talking to the media about this being a big step forward for WWE. It's true. This is one of the best arena complexes in the country, and it's going to bring us a lot of revenue. Anyway, I didn't pull you aside to talk about money."

"So I'm not getting a raise?" Alexa joked.

"Absolutely not," he replied with a chuckle before turning more serious, taking a quick look to make sure no one was eavesdropping on their conversation. "I'm going to tell you something that not many people in WWE know right now, and won't know until Monday, so you're to keep it to yourself."

"You got it," Alexa said seriously, excited to find out what the intrigue was.

"Yesterday, we finalised the signing of Tessa Blanchard."

"Holy…" Alexa managed to control herself before saying anything else too loudly. She had already made that mistake once, leading to Becky learning that she was tentatively dating Seth. "I mean, that's a big signing."

Hunter nodded. "Yes. We had her down in Orlando for tryouts and narrowly ended up turning her down. To her credit, she want away and showed us on Impact that we made a bad decision. Now that we've had the chance, we've rectified that decision and brought her in."

That was all well and good, however there was one thing Alexa didn't understand. "It's great that she's joining us. But why am I being told before everyone else?"

A small smile showed that Hunter had anticipated the question. "You're being told because you're going to be Tessa's first opponent. You see, she's not going to be wrestling as Tessa Blanchard, she's going to be wrestling as Abby the Witch, meaning she's going straight onto the main roster."

Alexa's eyes widened. "Oh! That's the character from the Firefly Fun House thing!" Hunter had cringed at the volume of her voice half way through her sentence, making her immediately quiet herself down.

"Yes, the character from the Firefly Fun House," he confirmed.

"Is Bray debuting his new character too then?" Alexa asked.

"Not yet. Abby the Witch is debuting first. Bray's going to keep doing the Fun House segments for the time being, since they're going over so well. The reason I wanted to tell you today is that firstly, as I said, you're going to be Tessa's first program. Secondly, she's obviously new to our company. I want you to take her under your wing for the first few weeks. Show her around, get her used to how things work in WWE, you know the deal."

Alexa was happy to do that. Actually, she liked the extra responsibility she was being given lately. "Sure thing," she promised. "I'm excited to see what you do with her debut."

Hunter nodded. "Thanks, Alexa. Again, not a word about this to anyone. Her debut is being kept quiet until she's out there in the ring Monday."

"The secret is safe with me," she assured him.

With that, they re-joined the group to continue the tour of the WWE Centre.

* * *

That evening, Alexa found herself sat opposite Seth at a table for two in the new WWE Centre Restaurant. Before taking their seats, they had briefly been shown around the place. There was a huge projector screen TV screen that could be pulled down for customers to watch WWE events when they were on. Alexa wasn't sure how she would feel about eating in what would surely be a raucous atmosphere when the place, but then she supposed that people would know what they were getting into when they turned up.

Both Seth and Alexa were microphoned up for the filming that was about to start, and several cameramen were set up around the restaurant, both to film Alexa's table and one at the other end of the restaurant, where Kofi and Becky were going to be eating.

The filming was going to start once the two pairings had their meals in front of them. Before that they had been given some pointers regarding what they could and could not talk about. Alexa thought it would have been easier if they had simply said, "Don't talk about anything apart from wrestling, and don't talk about anything controversial." Even with those strict guidelines in place, half of what they said would probably still be edited out.

Alexa had opted to order a chicken burger, while Seth had gone for a steak. A further limitation imposed on them by the filming was no alcohol, so they both had a glass of Coke in front of them when their food arrived. They were informed that they were now being recorded. Without hesitation, Seth took it upon himself to drive the conversation, towing the company line in the process.

"That new superstore really is something, isn't it?" he began. "Walking around there, seeing all the old merchandise, I couldn't help thinking back to when I first got into wrestling."

"Me too!" Alexa said happily. "So many memories came back to me while I was looking around. I saw a Trish Stratus shirt, and it made me think back to the Evolution pay-per-view last year. I was supposed to wrestle Trish that night. It would have been a dream come true for me, but I had to miss it through injury. It was… hard," she said, looking down as she felt a lump forming in her throat. She looked down, feeling embarrassed at showing her sadness in front of him. She hadn't intended on taking the conversation down that road, and she certainly hadn't intended to almost end up crying on TV, in front of Seth, on what was supposed to be some kind of date.

"Hey, it's okay," Seth said gently, showing real compassion. "I know what it's like, believe me. I've been there myself. I stood in a suite at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas and watched the main event of Wrestlemania 32 in tears. I was happy for Roman to get his crowning moment on such a big stage, but it should have been me in that main event. I had to give up the WWE Championship because I wrecked my knee, and it put me out for six or seven months. But I got past it all and came back, and so did you, Lexi. So did you."

Looking into his eyes, Alexa felt a real connection with him for the first time. His words were heartfelt. He genuinely cared, and didn't want her to be upset by thinking about the concussion-related nightmare she had been through for six months.

"Thanks, Seth," she said, finding a smile from somewhere. "At times I wondered if I'd ever wrestle again. And now here I am as the Raw Women's Champion. I guess that shows the importance of always believing in yourself and never giving up."

"Absolutely," Seth said through a mouthful of food. "To survive at the top around here, you have to be the fittest of the fit, the strongest of the strong. I mean mentally strong."

"You're right," Alexa said slowly, considering both aspects of that useful food for thought. She knew Seth was into Crossfit – something she had never even tried herself. She wondered if she might give it a try. It could help her to get fitter, and maybe build up her core strength too. As one of the shortest women in WWE, strength was a relative weakness of hers. She decided to speak to Seth about it, but now wasn't the time for that conversation. They had been told to stick to wrestling.

Chewing a mouthful of her burger slowly, Alexa bought herself some time to get the subject back to where they had started. "You mentioned you were thinking back to when you first got into wrestling. When was that? What's the first match you can remember watching?"

"Oh god, you're going to get me in trouble," Seth said, laughing.

"In trouble? Why?" Alexa asked, lost as to what his meaning might be.

"It was Survivor Series 1997, the Shawn and Bret match."

Alexa didn't need him to elaborate. "The Montreal screwjob," she recalled. "I don't think you're going to get in trouble for bringing that up."

"No, you're probably right," Seth smiled. "It's been discussed enough now that I think we all know what happened and why. So what about you? What's the first match you remember watching?"

"It was a Royal Rumble. I'm not sure what year, but I remember Triple H won it. He eliminated Kurt Angle at the end. I remember feeling disappointed. Although I had no idea about any of the people or the characters, I had decided Kurt was the one I wanted to win."

"That would have been 2002. So you started off liking a heel. That's interesting," Seth commented, looking down at his steak while he cut off a large piece of it.

"I know! I always found myself liking the heels, even the cowardly ones. I liked how they would do whatever it took to win. Pretty much exactly like your WWE title run."

Seth nodded his appreciation as he chewed his mouthful of steak. "That run was a hell of a lot of fun. I liked working with Joey Mercury too, he's a good friend of mine."

"J and J Security," Alexa recalled. "Hey, didn't Joey pin you one night?"

"We don't talk about that," Seth said, feigning embarrassment.

His reaction made Alexa laugh loudly. "We might not talk about it, but I remember seeing it."

"Nope, never happened," Seth insisted, laughing also.

The conversation continued in that vein for more than half an hour. Alexa had so much fun talking and cracking jokes about wrestling that she actually forgot they were being filmed. In the most unlikely of settings, they had managed to properly connect for the first time. Although they had only talked about wrestling, it had felt like a date. The company had been good, the food had been delicious, and Alexa felt sad when the film crew brought her back to reality by announcing that they were wrapping up.

After their microphone equipment had been taken off, Alexa took the opportunity to take Seth aside, out of earshot of anyone else. "I enjoyed that a lot," she said. "The company and the meal, I mean. It was a good time, and I don't want it to be over yet."

"It doesn't have to be," Seth said. He could hardly have failed to take the cue that she was giving him. "What do you say we go back to the hotel for that drink, or maybe two?"

Alexa smiled warmly up at him, glad to accept the offer. "I think a glass of wine would round off the evening nicely."

Seth looked pleased with her answer. "Alright, we'll get out of here as soon as we can."


	13. Chapter 13

On the way to the arena for Raw, Alexa had been catching Mickie up on her date with Seth Rollins. By the time they entered the building, she had reached the part of the story where she was having a drink with Seth in the bar back at their hotel.

"I'm so pleased you got along well at last," Mickie said, smiling broadly. "I knew it would happen if you kept working on it."

"I had my doubts, mainly in myself," Alexa admitted. "As I said to you before, it has been so long since I've tried dating someone new, I felt so awkward. But Friday night was different. We had a couple of drinks in the bar and I got to know him a bit. Like, actually got to know him. He told me he's always been an introvert, and that he's worked on that a lot in recent years. That was so relatable for me."

They were nearing the women's locker room, so Mickie hurried to the news she really wanted to get. "What happened at the end of the night? Did you kiss him?"

"No," Alexa said shyly. "He walked me back to my room, we said goodnight and he kissed me in the cheek. That was enough for what I'm going to call our first real date. Once I was back in my room and Seth had gone, I was happy to the point where I couldn't stop smiling. I've missed that. It's been a very tough year. I couldn't have gotten through it without you, Mickie. Thank you for always being such a good friend."

"Aww," Mickie said, putting an arm around Alexa's shoulders and giving her a squeeze as they stopped outside the locker room door. "That's what friends are for. You're past the tough times now. I love you, girl."

"I love you too," Alexa said contentedly. With that, Mickie let go of her and Alexa led the way into the locker room.

Walking in ahead of her friend, Alexa saw that Sonya was there before them, and had prepared their lockers as ever. Charlotte was also there, as were Becky Lynch and Ruby Riott. They were standing in a group, talking to Tessa Blanchard.

If Alexa had obeyed Hunter Helmsley's instructions completely, Tessa's presence would have been a big surprise to Mickie, as it must have been to the other women. However, Alexa had trusted her friend with the confidential news of what was undoubtedly a big signing for WWE.

A fact that even Hunter seemed to have forgotten was that Alexa had wrestled Tessa once on an NXT show, on one of the occasions that an outside talent was brought in for a one off match. For that reason, there was a little bit of familiarity between them when Alexa smiled and said, "Tessa, hey. It's really awesome to have you join us."

"Hi, Alexa," Tessa smiled back. "It's great to be here. At one time I thought I'd missed the boat, but now here I am. Not only did they sign me, they put me straight on Raw. It's pretty insane. Honestly, it's a massive compliment."

"It's a well deserved compliment," Mickie said, stepping past Alexa and straight into a brief, friendly hug from Tessa. "I'm so pleased for you. If anyone deserved to be in WWE who wasn't already here, it was you."

"Thanks, Mickie," Tessa said in a tone befitting of a reunion with a friend. "I know you put in a good word for me whenever you could, and I really appreciate it."

Mickie smiled kindly. "If any of it made a difference, I'm glad."

"I'm told you'll be showing me around and stuff," Tessa said, turning to Alexa. She sounded like she was looking forward to it.

"That's right," Alexa said. "Hunter asked me to since your first program is going to be with me. I was happy to say yes."

"Great," Tessa smiled.

"I'll just get my stuff sorted out and we can go take a look around if you like?"

"Sounds good."

Alexa headed for her locker, pulling her travel case behind her. She exchanged a greeting with Charlotte, who went back to talking to Tessa.

Sonya and Mickie were standing at the lockers. "Hey, how are you?" Alexa said to Evolution's rookie.

"I'm excited! I didn't know we were getting Tessa!"

"I don't think anyone did apart from me," Alexa tactfully lied. "Hunter told me Friday, but he swore me to secrecy. I'm excited to work with her."

"Me too!" Sonya said enthusiastically. "Hopefully there's a one on one match in our future."

"Could happen sooner than later, depending on how our angle is written," Alexa said. "Failing that, I'm sure you'll face her in some tag match or other."

"I'm trying to keep focused on Stomping Grounds, but it's hard," Sonya said, referring to the title shot that she and Charlotte were getting against the IIconics at the upcoming pay-per-view.

"I have no idea what my match is going to be," Alexa said with a slight shake of her head. "It's only a couple of weeks away, and I mean, surely it's not going to be Tessa? Debuting her character tonight and then giving her a title shot two weeks later? I can't see it."

"No, me either," Mickie said. "Maybe you should talk to Vince?"

"I guess I'll have to. This is what I was saying, uh, the other night," Alexa said, quickly correcting herself before she mentioned Seth's name in front of Sonya. "The communication around here is dreadful. Two weeks out from a PPV, I'm the Raw Women's Champion and I don't even know if I'm going to be on the card or not, much less who against."

"I'm sure they have something in mind," Mickie said in a positive tone. "Like you said, you're the champion. Also, we're a new stable, and we know they're going to have you and Tessa working together. It's not like they've forgotten about you."

Alexa felt a little better after listening to that. "I know you're right," she admitted. "It's just frustrating how little you get told about things sometimes. Anyway, I'll talk to Vince later. First, I get to show Tessa around."

Looking at the task she had been assigned positively, Alexa approached WWE's newest signing and asked if she was ready to begin the tour. Tessa said she was, so they left the locker room together.

"I have to admit, I was a bit surprised that you're coming in as Abby the Witch," Alexa said once they were out in the hallway. She wanted a way to get conversation going between them, and talking about their upcoming angle seemed like the easiest way to achieve that.

"Right?" Tessa said, agreeing with Alexa's comment. "I was surprised when I was told that was what they wanted me to do. Obviously I would have been happy with coming in as Tessa Blanchard, but I thought about it for a day after I got the offer, and ultimately I couldn't see a way I would ever say no to WWE. It's the biggest opportunity of my career, it's by far the highest paying contract of my career, and I think it's going to be a hell of a lot of fun, too. So yeah, although it might not be what I'd have dreamed of character-wise, I am looking forward to playing Abby the Witch."

Alexa found that relatable, nodding her understanding. They had reached the makeup area, so there was a pause in the conversation while she introduced Tessa to the WWE Glam Squad. They were going to have the task of transforming Tessa into the Abby the Witch character every night – not an easy task.

When they moved on, Alexa picked up from where they had left off. "I get what you mean about not playing the role you dreamed of. You made me think back to my main roster call up. I was so overjoyed that I had made it, I was crying my eyes out. Then I was told I was going to be turning heel. That terrified me. I honest to god could not see myself playing a heel. Like, I literally didn't think I'd be capable of it."

Tessa laughed. "Wow. And now look at you. You're up there with the best heels on the roster."

"Thanks," Alexa smiled. "My point is, it might not seem like you've been given what you wanted, but it can work out for the best. Abby the Witch, Bray's new character and this whole Firefly Fun House thing are the hottest ticket right now. Personally, I think you're going to kill it."

"Thanks, Alexa," Tessa said with genuine appreciation as they approached the catering area. "I must say, I can't wait for the reaction tonight when people get to see Abby as more than a puppet for the first time."

"I'm sure it's going to be a great moment," Alexa said.

* * *

Evolution's one segment on that night's show had seen Charlotte and Sonya comprehensively defeat the thrown together team of Naomi and Dana Brooke. It served as a warm up match ahead of Deville and Flair challenging for the Women's Tag Team Championships at Stomping Grounds.

The Evolution segment had been early in the show, which meant that they were all changed out of their dresses or ring gear by the time the third hour arrived. It started with the weekly edition of Firefly Fun House, which had been filmed earlier in the night on the special set that was put together backstage each week. As the episode would contain Tessa's first appearance as Abby the Witch, Alexa felt excited as she watched the TV on the locker room wall. Around her, most of the other women were also watching.

"We're really glad that you're our friend. And this is a friendship that will never ever end."

Dressed in a red sweater, Bray Wyatt opened the door to the Fun House and walked in, a big friendly smile on his face. There was a cheer from the children in the supposed audience.

"Yowie wowie!" Bray exclaimed. "What a day I've had! It has been so much fun! And now here I am in the Fun House, ready to spend time with all my friends!"

There was a cheer from the children, and Mercy the Buzzard was shown popping up out of her box. Huskus the Pig Boy sat on top of the TV, slapping his hooves together in excitement, and Ramblin' Rabbit sat on his chair, covered in bandages. There was a notable absence at the window in the background, where Abby the Witch was usually found.

Looking around the room, Bray smiled at all of the characters before his attention settled on the empty space at the window. "I said spend time with all my friends," he said expectantly, as if he was prompting Abby to pop up and join in the fun. Nothing happened.

"She's gone," Ramblin' Rabbit reported.

"Gone?" Bray exclaimed. "What do you mean, gone?"

"Gone. I mean gone. How many ways are there to mean gone?" Ramblin' Rabbit said cheekily. "You're the one who was keeping her here. You weren't here, so she went away."

Bray turned to face the camera, and his face and tone changed, conveying the utmost seriousness. "Abby the Witch is out there. That's not good, for any of you."

At that moment the picture started glitching. It showed Abby the Witch, but this time not as a puppet. She was a real, living witch with a similar appearance to the puppet that had previously been seen: pale, almost yellow tinged skin, a black veil, long black hair, dark red lips and wide purple eyes. In the brief glitches, she was looking at the camera and laughing like a maniac.

"I'm free of that place!" Abby shrieked wildly. "I told him I would leave! And I told him what I would do!"

Abby's laughter continued as the glitching gradually stopped happening.

The shot returned to Bray, still with the serious expression on his face. He had a stark warning to pass on. "If you see Abby? Run!"


End file.
